#arctotherium

[yee-qi]

read Ancient Animal Tales it's peak

[tine5]

[theyuanman]

Ancient Bestiary - arctotherium angustidens , Argentinian shortfaced bear and his cousin agriotherium intermedium

[sinosauropteryx--prima]

National Fossil: Argentina

For “season 2“ we‘re moving to South America, more precisely to Argentina, which has lots of fossils to offer.

Once again, you get to vote on which one should represent the nation. As always, it could be a fossil that is just exceptionally well preserved and beautiful, had a huge impact on paleontology and our knowledge of the past, is very common/representative of the area, is beloved and famous in the public eye, is just a very unique and interesting find, or has any other justification.

Here are the options:

Argentinosaurus: The first contestant is one of the biggest land animals of all time with a length of more than 30 m and a weight of 80 t or more. It‘s also very fittingly named after the country.

Carnotaurus: Next up is the carnivorous dinosaur Carnotaurus. Only one skeleton has ever been found, but it was so well preserved, that Carnotaurus still is one of the best understood theropod dinosaurs of the Southern hemisphere. It‘s a fan favorite movie star, with roles ranging from the dorky dancer of Prehistoric Planet all the way to the main villain of Dinsey‘s Dinosaur (Art by Fred Wierum)

Eoraptor: while Argentina has some of the biggest dinosaurs ever to offer, it is also well known for some of the earliest ones. The small Triassic Eoraptor and some of its Argentinian cousins are very important for our understanding of the evolution of dinosaurs as a whole

Kelenken: One of my favorite groups of South American animals are the terror birds, giant predatory flightless birds that make it very clear that birds are in fact dinosaurs. The biggest one of them was 3 m tall Kelenken, known from some leg bones and the skull. It lived during the Miocene about 15 million years ago (Art by Julio Lacerda)

Argentavis: If one giant Miocene bird is not enough for you, Argentina also offers you Argentavis. While it maybe wasn‘t the biggest flying bird in terms of wingspan, it most likely was the heaviest one (more than 70 kg; for comparison, the heaviest flying bird today weighs about 20 kg) (Art by Fabio Alejandro)

Fasolasuchus: If you‘re really not a fan of dinosaurs (including birds), maybe I can interest you in the crocodile-site of the Archosaur family tree: Fasolasuchus was an distantly-related triassic cousin of our modern crocodiles and it was the biggest terrestrial predator of its time; the only carnivores to ever surpass it were the biggest theropod dinosaurs

Arctotherium: South America is home to many bizarre mammals, but most of them I want to reserve for other countries. Still, here is one mammal option for y‘all: Arctotherium, the giant short-faced bear. The biggest species of them lived in Argentina and they were probably the biggest bear ever (maybe up to 1500 kg and more). (Illustration by Soibelzon, Schubert 2011)

What should be Argentinas National Fossil?

Argentinosaurus

Carnotaurus

Eoraptor

Kelenken

Argentavis

Fasolasuchus

Arctotherium

Other (Comment)

Voting ended onOct 4, 2023

[regaliceratops]

Arctotherium angustidens was a short-faced tremarctine bear from the Pleistocene of South America. Upper limits for this species of giant bear may have topped out at a height of 14 ft. and a weight approaching 2 tons, making it the largest known bear and a contender for largest land mammal carnivore ever. Its lineage has since suffered a substantial decrease in diversity, today only being survived by the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus).

[252mya]

Arctotherium angustidens

Artwork by Fabrizio De Rossi

One specimen of the bear Arctotherium was estimated to be as tall as 3 meters (10 ft) when standing up. They likely evolved such a big size due to competitions from other carnivores like the big cats.

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252MYA creates custom-made artwork for private collections and editorial, scientific, or educational projects.

[alphynix]

Some more recent work I’ve done for PBS Eons!

The eurypterids Hibbertopterus and Brachyopterus, from “When Giant Scorpions Swarmed the Seas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQXTXbuLYo

The short-faced bears Plionarctos and Arctotherium, from “The Mystery Behind the Biggest Bears of All Time” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtsOhmBb92E

The big cats Panthera blytheae and Panthera atrox, from “The Ghostly Origins of the Big Cats” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPJnqWke5n8

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[teadoodlesandoddends-blog]

Noodling around with bears based off an old conversation I'd had with @mothwick on sasquatch.

As I am adamant that no ape would have survived through Pleistocene North America, I present my beary hairy bigfoot: a surviving member of the subfamily Tremarctinae, making it the only other living relative of the spectacled bear.

These are actually smaller offshoots of the family, being cousins to the giant short faced bears, though they do look superficially similar to members of the genus Arctodus. Much like their bigger extinct cousins, these sassy bears are opportunistic omnivores who consume a roughly 60/40 plant matter to meat diet. Their ancestors were Arctotherium bears who migrated northward and eventually adapted to dense forests of the Pacific Northwest, their deep snouts giving the illusion of an almost human face from a distance.

This bearfoot is named Chiqi. They're a sassy ton of rug.