The Mystery Behind the Biggest Bears of All Time
- Published on: 23 April 2019
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The short-faced bears turned out to be remarkably adaptable, undergoing radical changes to meet the demands of two changing continents. And yet, for reasons we don’t quite understand, their adaptability wasn’t enough to keep them from going extinct.
Thanks to Fabrizio De Rossi and Studio 252mya for the Arctodus and Arctotherium illustrations. You can find more of their work here: https://252mya.com/gallery/fabrizio-de-rossi
And thanks to Ceri Thomas for the Plionarctos and Arctotherium reconstructions! Check out more of Ceri's paleoart at http://alphynix.tumblr.com and http://nixillustration.com
Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios
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References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eg5riA7VgBKCFvTNtXMdbE0Y9B8VjSNGBbivKlmFszY/edit?usp=sharing - Runtime : 11:16
- dinosaurs dinos paleo paleontology scishow eons pbs pbs digital studios hank green john green complexly fossils natural history Bears spectacled bear Arctodus simus short-faced bears Pleistocene Epoch Arctotherium angustidens Arctotherium Arctodus North America South America Great American Biotic Interchange Smilodon Prey jaguar cougar dire wolf hypercarnivore kleptoparasitism
COMMENTS: 40
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RustSquirrel 3 days ago
You shouldn’t use polar bears as an example because all they can eat is meat, plants can’t grow in that cold environment
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BoMwarriorVlog 5 days ago
I appreciate the size comparison to the host, but how tall is she?? 5 feet tall? 5 foot 3 inches tall? Six feet tall? Four foot eleven inches? 🤔
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kraigthorne 1 weeks ago
1:30 The Short-faced Bear of North America was taller with a large specimen standing up to 11–12 feet (3.4–3.7 m) tall with a 14-foot (4.3 m) vertical arm reach.
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Fredrik Dunge 1 weeks ago
10:00 10.000 years ago? Wouldn't that roughly coincide with the arrival of humans in the Americas?
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Yogan Barrientos 1 weeks ago
It would be a cool if there was a video game that covered all of these type of old species in all of these videos.
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Moof Cabbage 1 weeks ago
It's a shame that no bears are native to Africa anymore, I would personally love to see how a bear would interact with African wildlife.
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Jaim Deines 2 weeks ago
So many mysteries,So many conclusions to MEATSo many theories to PLANTI can't BEAR to SCAVENGE Any more knowledge.
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Jesko Parra 2 weeks ago
Why are their bones not on display in N.A. museums? I've visited museums from various states from coast to coast, and this commonly large apex predator is never featured. #sloth #bummer
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oicram1 3 weeks ago
I love this series!!!!! But sometimes.....I wish it was me narrating. She is amazing.....but I have a great voice for documentaries. Take care, Morgan Freeman.
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ntrovRT Hemi 3 weeks ago
Imagine a cartel thinking they're being badass by throwing some rat in a chamber with a LITERAL teddy bear
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Wasa Bista 3 weeks ago
There was a major extinction event in and around the Younger Dryas, caused by a comet shower that hit the North American glacier and triggered worldwide floods. That may be what did for the giant North American bears.
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Toyuzu 3 weeks ago
Science will tell you the largest bears currently living are Polar Bears. Not true. Alaska has coastal brown bears that make the largest Polar bears look like cubs.
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EricTheNotSoRed 1 months ago
Regardless its normal diet, I would not want to meet one in a dark ally.
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Chris H 1 months ago
Could the arrival of (also omniverous) humans with hunting weapons not have occupied the same niche (but far more efficiently) as them, therefore causing an abrupt end to them in the fossil record?
How did I miss this 7 months ago!? I watch this channel like a hawk for its approx bimonthly uploads