| evidence for reproductive isolation between cave bear populations. | the european cave bear (ursus spelaeus), which became extinct around 15,000 years ago, had several morphologically different forms. most conspicuous of these were small alpine cave bears found at elevations of 1,600 to 2,800 m. whereas some paleontologists have considered these bears a distinct form, or even a distinct species, others have disputed this. by a combination of morphological and genetic methods, we have analyzed a population of small cave bears from ramesch cave (2,000 m altitude) a ... | 2004 | 14711412 |
| pcr-induced sequence alterations hamper the typing of prehistoric bone samples for diagnostic achondroplasia mutations. | achondroplasia (ach) is a skeletal disorder (mim100800) with an autosomal dominant mendelian inheritance and complete penetrance. here we report the screening of ancient bone samples for diagnostic ach mutations. the diagnostic g-->a transition in the fgfr3 gene at cdna position 1138 was detected in cloned polymerase chain reaction (pcr) products obtained from the dry mummy of the semerchet tomb, egypt (first dynasty, approximately 4,890-5,050 bp [before present]), and from an individual from ki ... | 2004 | 15254256 |
| genomic sequencing of pleistocene cave bears. | despite the greater information content of genomic dna, ancient dna studies have largely been limited to the amplification of mitochondrial sequences. here we describe metagenomic libraries constructed with unamplified dna extracted from skeletal remains of two 40,000-year-old extinct cave bears. analysis of approximately 1 megabase of sequence from each library showed that despite significant microbial contamination, 5.8 and 1.1% of clones contained cave bear inserts, yielding 26,861 base pairs ... | 2005 | 15933159 |
| natural-trap ursid mortality and the kurtén response. | ursid mortality data have long been used to evaluate associations between cave-bear remains (ursus deningeri and u. spelaeus) and hominin (homo sp.) remains. typically, such ursid assemblages produce mortality patterns that indicate that juvenile and old bears died during hibernation, a pattern that is used to suggest that humans and bears occupied the same caves at different times. however, a different kind of mortality pattern can also be used to suggest human influence on cave bears, particul ... | 2006 | 16503344 |
| peştera cu oase 2 and the cranial morphology of early modern europeans. | between 2003 and 2005, the peştera cu oase, romania yielded a largely complete early modern human cranium, oase 2, scattered on the surface of a late pleistocene hydraulically displaced bone bed containing principally the remains of ursus spelaeus. multiple lines of evidence indicate an age of approximately 40.5 thousand calendar years before the present (approximately 35 ka 14c b.p.). morphological comparison of the adolescent oase 2 cranium to relevant late pleistocene human samples documents ... | 2007 | 17227863 |
| sudden expansion of a single brown bear maternal lineage across northern continental eurasia after the last ice age: a general demographic model for mammals? | the brown bear has proved a useful model for studying late quaternary mammalian phylogeography. however, information is lacking from northern continental eurasia, which constitutes a large part of the species' current distribution. we analysed mitochondrial dna sequences (totalling 1943 bp) from 205 bears from northeast europe and russia in order to characterize the maternal phylogeography of bears in this region. we also estimated the formation times of the sampled brown bear lineages and those ... | 2009 | 19434812 |
| dogs, cats, and kin: a molecular species-level phylogeny of carnivora. | phylogenies underpin comparative biology as high-utility tools to test evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses, inform on conservation strategies, and reveal the age and evolutionary histories of traits and lineages. as tools, most powerful are those phylogenies that contain all, or nearly all, of the taxa of a given group. despite their obvious utility, such phylogenies, other than summary 'supertrees', are currently lacking for most mammalian orders, including the order carnivora. carnivora ... | 2010 | 19900567 |
| 'neanderthal bone flutes': simply products of ice age spotted hyena scavenging activities on cave bear cubs in european cave bear dens. | punctured extinct cave bear femora were misidentified in southeastern europe (hungary/slovenia) as 'palaeolithic bone flutes' and the 'oldest neanderthal instruments'. these are not instruments, nor human made, but products of the most important cave bear scavengers of europe, hyenas. late middle to late pleistocene (mousterian to gravettian) ice age spotted hyenas of europe occupied mainly cave entrances as dens (communal/cub raising den types), but went deeper for scavenging into cave bear den ... | 2015 | 26064624 |
| a neanderthal lower molar from stajnia cave, poland. | the primary aim of this study was to conduct a taxonomic assessment of the second of three isolated human teeth found in the stajnia cave (north of the carpathians, poland) in 2008. the specimen was located near a human tooth (s5000), which was identified by urbanowski et al. (2010) as a neanderthal permanent upper molar. both of these teeth were excavated from the d2 layer, which belongs to the d stratigraphic complex comprising the archaeological assemblage associated with the micoquian tradit ... | 2013 | 23415376 |
| patterns of damage in genomic dna sequences from a neandertal. | high-throughput direct sequencing techniques have recently opened the possibility to sequence genomes from pleistocene organisms. here we analyze dna sequences determined from a neandertal, a mammoth, and a cave bear. we show that purines are overrepresented at positions adjacent to the breaks in the ancient dna, suggesting that depurination has contributed to its degradation. we furthermore show that substitutions resulting from miscoding cytosine residues are vastly overrepresented in the dna ... | 2007 | 17715061 |
| damage and repair of ancient dna. | under certain conditions small amounts of dna can survive for long periods of time and can be used as polymerase chain reaction (pcr) substrates for the study of phylogenetic relationships and population genetics of extinct plants and animals, including hominids. because of extensive dna degradation, these studies are limited to species that lived within the past 10(4)-10(5) years (late pleistocene), although dna sequences from 10(6) years have been reported. ancient dna (adna) has been used to ... | 2005 | 15748652 |
| lack of phylogeography in european mammals before the last glaciation. | in many extant animal and plant species in europe and north america a correlation exists between the geographical location of individuals and the genetic relatedness of the mitochondrial (mt) dna sequences that they carry. here, we analyze mtdna sequences from cave bears, brown bears, cave hyenas, and neandertals in europe before the last glacial maximum and fail to detect any phylogeographic patterns similar to those observed in extant species. we suggest that at the beginning of the last glaci ... | 2004 | 15317936 |
| first dna sequences from asian cave bear fossils reveal deep divergences and complex phylogeographic patterns. | until recently, cave bears were believed to have only inhabited europe. however, recent morphological evidence suggests that cave bears' geographic range extended as far east as transbaikalia, eastern siberia. these asian cave bears were morphologically distinct from european cave bears. however, how they related to european lineages remains unclear, stressing the need to assess the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationship between asian cave bears and their european relatives. in this work, ... | 2009 | 19226321 |
| hominid exploitation of the environment and cave bear populations. the case of ursus spelaeus rosenmüller-heinroth in amutxate cave (aralar, navarra-spain). | cave bears (ursus deningeri and u. spelaeus) and hominids (homo heidelbergensis, h. neanderthalensis, and h. sapiens) were potential competitors for environmental resources (subterranean and open air). here, we examined the age at death of cave bear (ursus spelaeus rosenmüller-heinroth) specimens from amutxate cave in order to shed light on the effect of resource sharing between cave bears and hominids. after studying dental wear of the deciduous and permanent dentitions, the ontogenetic develop ... | 2007 | 16996576 |
| withering away--25,000 years of genetic decline preceded cave bear extinction. | the causes of the late pleistocene megafaunal extinctions are still enigmatic. although the fossil record can provide approximations for when a species went extinct, the timing of its disappearance alone cannot resolve the causes and mode of the decline preceding its extinction. however, ancient dna analyses can reveal population size changes over time and narrow down potential causes of extinction. here, we present an ancient dna study comparing late pleistocene population dynamics of two close ... | 2010 | 20335279 |
| predormancy omnivory in european cave bears evidenced by a dental microwear analysis of ursus spelaeus from goyet, belgium. | previous morphological and isotopic studies indicate that late pleistocene cave bear (ursus spelaeus) diet ranged from mostly vegetarian to omnivory or even carnivory. however, such analyses do not provide information on seasonal diets, and only provide an average record of diet. a dental microwear analysis of 43 young and adult individuals demonstrate that, during the predormancy period, cave bears from goyet (late pleistocene, belgium) were not strictly herbivorous, but had a mixed diet compos ... | 2009 | 19706401 |
| direct multiplex sequencing (dmps)--a novel method for targeted high-throughput sequencing of ancient and highly degraded dna. | although the emergence of high-throughput sequencing technologies has enabled whole-genome sequencing from extinct organisms, little progress has been made in accelerating targeted sequencing from highly degraded dna. here, we present a novel and highly sensitive method for targeted sequencing of ancient and degraded dna, which couples multiplex pcr directly with sample barcoding and high-throughput sequencing. using this approach, we obtained a 96% complete mitochondrial genome data set from 31 ... | 2009 | 19635845 |
| using classical population genetics tools with heterochroneous data: time matters! | new polymorphism datasets from heterochroneous data have arisen thanks to recent advances in experimental and microbial molecular evolution, and the sequencing of ancient dna (adna). however, classical tools for population genetics analyses do not take into account heterochrony between subsets, despite potential bias on neutrality and population structure tests. here, we characterize the extent of such possible biases using serial coalescent simulations. | 2009 | 19440242 |
| evolution. two sets of cave bear dna uncover the bear facts. | | 2008 | 18974322 |
| hibernation can also cause high delta15n values in cave bears: a response to richards et al. | | 2008 | 18326029 |
| sudden replacement of cave bear mitochondrial dna in the late pleistocene. | | 2007 | 17307042 |
| multiplex amplification of the mammoth mitochondrial genome and the evolution of elephantidae. | in studying the genomes of extinct species, two principal limitations are typically the small quantities of endogenous ancient dna and its degraded condition, even though products of up to 1,600 base pairs (bp) have been amplified in rare cases. using small overlapping polymerase chain reaction products, longer stretches of sequences or even whole mitochondrial genomes can be reconstructed, but this approach is limited by the number of amplifications that can be performed from rare samples. thus ... | 2006 | 16362058 |
| ancient genomes. | ever since its invention, the polymerase chain reaction has been the method of choice for work with ancient dna. in an application of modern genomic methods to material from the pleistocene, a recent study has instead undertaken to clone and sequence a portion of the ancient genome of the cave bear. | 2005 | 16356273 |
| box-modeling of 15n/14n in mammals. | the 15n/14n signature of animal proteins is now commonly used to understand their physiology and quantify the flows of nutrient in trophic webs. these studies assume that animals are predictably 15n-enriched relative to their food, but the isotopic mechanism which accounts for this enrichment remains unknown. we developed a box model of the nitrogen isotope cycle in mammals in order to predict the 15n/14n ratios of body reservoirs as a function of time, n intake and body mass. results of modelin ... | 2006 | 16328553 |
| the clan of the cave bear meets the house of god. | | 2004 | 14872355 |
| deciphering the complete mitochondrial genome and phylogeny of the extinct cave bear in the paleolithic painted cave of chauvet. | retrieving a large amount of genetic information from extinct species was demonstrated feasible, but complete mitochondrial genome sequences have only been deciphered for the moa, a bird that became extinct a few hundred years ago, and for pleistocene species, such as the woolly mammoth and the mastodon, both of which could be studied from animals embedded in permafrost. to enlarge the diversity of mitochondrial genomes available for pleistocene species, we turned to the cave bear (ursus spelaeu ... | 2008 | 18955696 |
| mitochondrial genomes reveal an explosive radiation of extinct and extant bears near the miocene-pliocene boundary. | despite being one of the most studied families within the carnivora, the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the bear family (ursidae) have long remained unclear. widely divergent topologies have been suggested based on various data sets and methods. | 2008 | 18662376 |
| isotopic evidence for omnivory among european cave bears: late pleistocene ursus spelaeus from the peştera cu oase, romania. | previous bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic studies of late pleistocene european cave bears (ursus spelaeus) have shown that these bears frequently had low nitrogen isotope values, similar to those of herbivores and indicating either unusual physiology related to hibernation or a herbivorous diet. isotopic analysis of animal bone from the peştera cu oase (cave with bones), romania, shows that most of its cave bears had higher nitrogen isotope values than the associated herbivores and wer ... | 2008 | 18187577 |
| nuclear dna sequences from late pleistocene megafauna. | we report the retrieval and characterization of multi- and single-copy nuclear dna sequences from alaskan and siberian mammoths (mammuthus primigenius). in addition, a nuclear copy of a mitochondrial gene was recovered. furthermore, a 13,000-year-old ground sloth and a 33,000-year-old cave bear yielded multicopy nuclear dna sequences. thus, multicopy and single-copy genes can be analyzed from pleistocene faunal remains. the results also show that under some circumstances, nucleotide sequence dif ... | 1999 | 10555277 |
| dietary change and stable isotopes: a model of growth and dormancy in cave bears. | in order to discuss dietary change over time by the use of stable isotopes, it is necessary to sort out the underlying processes in isotopic variation. together with the dietary signal other processes have been investigated, namely metabolic processes, collagen turnover and physical growth. however, growth and collagen turnover time have so far been neglected in dietary reconstruction based on stable isotopes. an earlier study suggested that cave bears (ursus spelaeus) probably gave birth to cub ... | 1999 | 10518325 |
| stable isotopes and the metabolism of the european cave bear. | isotopic analyses of fossil bones of the extinct european cave bear indicate that this animal was a hibernator with the same unusual metabolic processes as some modern bear species. this finding provides useful biological and archaeological information on an extinct species, and the methods themselves may prove generally useful in studies of the metabolisms of modern bears, other hibernators, and perhaps of starving animals. | 1998 | 28308523 |
| [paradentosis in cave bears and in certain hominid fossils]. | | 1954 | 13185639 |
| [paradentosis of the cave-bear and some hominid fossils]. | | 1952 | 14948199 |
| molecular breeding of polymerases for amplification of ancient dna. | in the absence of repair, lesions accumulate in dna. thus, dna persisting in specimens of paleontological, archaeological or forensic interest is inevitably damaged. we describe a strategy for the recovery of genetic information from damaged dna. by molecular breeding of polymerase genes from the genus thermus (taq (thermus aquaticus), tth (thermus thermophilus) and tfl (thermus flavus)) and compartmentalized self-replication selection, we have evolved polymerases that can extend single, double ... | 2007 | 17632524 |
| ancient dna analyses reveal high mitochondrial dna sequence diversity and parallel morphological evolution of late pleistocene cave bears. | cave bears (ursus spelaeus) existed in europe and western asia until the end of the last glaciation some 10,000 years ago. to investigate the genetic diversity, population history, and relationship among different cave bear populations, we have determined mitochondrial dna sequences from 12 cave bears that range in age from about 26,500 to at least 49,000 years and originate from nine caves. the samples include one individual from the type specimen population, as well as two small-sized high-alp ... | 2002 | 12140236 |
| ancient dna analysis reveals divergence of the cave bear, ursus spelaeus, and brown bear, ursus arctos, lineages. | the cave bear, ursus spelaeus, represents one of the most frequently found paleontological remains from the pleistocene in europe. the species has always been confined to europe and was contemporary with the brown bear, ursus arctos. relationships between the cave bear and the two lineages of brown bears defined in europe, as well as the origins of the two species, remain controversial, mainly due to the wide morphological diversity of the fossil remains, which makes interpretation difficult [1, ... | 2001 | 11231157 |
| partial genomic survival of cave bears in living brown bears. | although many large mammal species went extinct at the end of the pleistocene epoch, their dna may persist due to past episodes of interspecies admixture. however, direct empirical evidence of the persistence of ancient alleles remains scarce. here, we present multifold coverage genomic data from four late pleistocene cave bears (ursus spelaeus complex) and show that cave bears hybridized with brown bears (ursus arctos) during the pleistocene. we develop an approach to assess both the directiona ... | 2018 | 30150744 |
| pathologies in the extinct pleistocene eurasian steppe lion panthera leo spelaea ()-results of fights with hyenas, bears and lions and other ecological stresses. | late pleistocene eurasian steppe lions panthera leo spelaea (goldfuss, 1810) frequently (3 of 13) have skull damage attributable to bites. such evidence is found only in lions from hyena or cave bear dens. wounds on frontal and parietal bones appear to be the result of battles during cave bear hunts, by antagonistic conflicts with hyenas, and less often from fights with conspecifics. skull bite damage is extremely rare in modern lions, suggesting that this eurasian lion pathology is the result o ... | 2012 | 29539365 |
| mortality analysis of pleistocene bears and its paleoanthropological relevance. | bear bones and paleolithic stone artefacts often co-occur in pleistocene cave deposits of eurasia, raising the question of how these associations come about and the need for effective methods with which to obtain a clear answer. building upon knowledge of modern bears, i present a method for testing two competing hypotheses about the causes of bear mortality in hibernation contexts. the first hypothesis proposes that age-dependent deaths resulted from non-violent causes (principally starvation), ... | 1998 | 9547458 |
| tracking the origins of the cave bear (ursus spelaeus) by mitochondrial dna sequencing. | the different european populations of ursus arctos, the brown bear, were recently studied for mitochondrial dna polymorphism. two clearly distinct lineages (eastern and western) were found, which may have diverged approximately 850,000 years ago. in this context, it was interesting to study the cave bear, ursus spelaeus, a species which became extinct 20,000 years ago. in this study, we have amplified and sequenced a fragment of 139-bp in the mitochondrial dna control region of a 40,000-year-old ... | 1994 | 7991628 |
| the interdisciplinary cooperation of forensic medicine, clinical medicine and palaeozoology: a case of cave bear (ursus speloeus) bones. | three pathologically modified bones (cranium, left mandible, iliac bone) of a cave bears (ursus spelaeus) were found in the last glacial deposits (ois 3) in the caves of the vel'ká fatra carst, slovak republic. despite of thorough paleontological examination, the bear bones were examined by experts in forensic medicine, traumatology and stomatology, too. the pathological changes were found in the tooth bed on the right side of the maxilla at the place of m1, being interpreted as a result of odon ... | 2011 | 21413453 |
| a rapid column-based ancient dna extraction method for increased sample throughput. | genetic analyses using museum specimens and ancient dna from fossil samples are becoming increasingly important in phylogenetic and especially population genetic studies. recent progress in ancient dna sequencing technologies has substantially increased dna sequence yields and, in combination with barcoding methods, has enabled large-scale studies using any type of dna. moreover, more and more studies now use nuclear dna sequences in addition to mitochondrial ones. unfortunately, nuclear dna is, ... | 2010 | 21565072 |
| case study: targeted high-throughput sequencing of mitochondrial genomes from extinct cave bears via direct multiplex pcr sequencing (dmps). | here i describe the use of a recently developed technique for targeted high-throughput sequencing of highly degraded dna by direct multiplex pcr sequencing (dmps) that was used to amplify 31 near-complete mitochondrial genomes of the extinct cave bear (ursus spelaeus). dmps couples multiplex pcr with the generation of barcoded sequencing libraries to be sequenced in parallel on a high-throughput sequencing platform. dmps makes it possible to generate large amounts of targeted dna sequence data s ... | 2012 | 22237534 |
| new evidence for the existence of pleistocene cave bears in arctic siberia. | | 2016 | 22945525 |
| johann christian rosenmüller (1771-1820): a historical perspective on the man behind the fossa. | introduction the fossa of rosenmüller, also known as the lateral pharyngeal recess, is a well-established site of origin of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. it is located in the lateral pharyngeal wall behind the cartilaginous portion of the eustachian tube, the torus tubarius, and is named after johann christian rosenmüller (jcr). objective we present a history on the life and extensive works of johann christian rosenmüller, a german physician and anatomist. results johann christian rosenmüller was a ... | 2013 | 24436911 |
| ancient human footprints in ciur-izbuc cave, romania. | in 1965, ciur-izbuc cave in the carpathian mountains of romania was discovered to contain about 400 ancient human footprints. at that time, researchers interpreted the footprints to be those of a man, woman and child who entered the cave by an opening which is now blocked but which was usable in antiquity. the age of the prints (≈10-15 ka bp) was based partly on their association with cave bear (ursus spelaeus) footprints and bones, and the belief that cave bears became extinct near the end of t ... | 2014 | 25043334 |
| a high-precision chronological model for the decorated upper paleolithic cave of chauvet-pont d'arc, ardèche, france. | radiocarbon dates for the ancient drawings in the chauvet-pont d'arc cave revealed ages much older than expected. these early ages and nature of this paleolithic art make this united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) site indisputably unique. a large, multidisciplinary dating program has recently mapped the anthropological evolution associated with the cave. more than 350 dates (by (14)c, u-th, tl and (36)cl) were obtained over the last 15 y. they include 259 rad ... | 2016 | 27071106 |
| retreat and extinction of the late pleistocene cave bear (ursus spelaeus sensu lato). | the cave bear (ursus spelaeus sensu lato) is a typical representative of pleistocene megafauna which became extinct at the end of the last glacial. detailed knowledge of cave bear extinction could explain this spectacular ecological transformation. the paper provides a report on the youngest remains of the cave bear dated to 20,930 ± 140 (14)c years before present (bp). ancient dna analyses proved its affiliation to the ursus ingressus haplotype. using this record and 205 other dates, we determi ... | 2016 | 27730265 |
| typing single polymorphic nucleotides in mitochondrial dna as a way to access middle pleistocene dna. | in this study, we have used a technique designed to target short fragments containing informative mitochondrial substitutions to extend the temporal limits of dna recovery and study the molecular phylogeny of ursus deningeri. we present a cladistic analysis using dna recovered from 400 kyr old u. deningeri remains, which demonstrates u. deningeri's relation to ursus spelaeus. this study extends the limits of recovery from skeletal remains by almost 300 kyr. plant material from permafrost environ ... | 2006 | 17148299 |
| complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a middle pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort dna fragments. | although an inverse relationship is expected in ancient dna samples between the number of surviving dna fragments and their length, ancient dna sequencing libraries are strikingly deficient in molecules shorter than 40 bp. we find that a loss of short molecules can occur during dna extraction and present an improved silica-based extraction protocol that enables their efficient retrieval. in combination with single-stranded dna library preparation, this method enabled us to reconstruct the mitoch ... | 2013 | 24019490 |
| pitfalls in comparing modern hair and fossil bone collagen c and n isotopic data to reconstruct ancient diets: a case study with cave bears (ursus spelaeus). | stable isotope analyses provide one of the few means to evaluate diet of extinct taxa. however, interpreting isotope data from bone collagen of extinct animals based on isotopic patterns in different tissues of modern animal proxies is precarious. for example, three corrections are needed before making comparisons of recent hair and ancient bone collagen: calibration of carbon-13 variations in atmospheric co2, different isotopic discrimination between diet-hair keratin and diet-bone collagen, an ... | 2014 | 24588112 |
| ancient dna reveals differences in behaviour and sociality between brown bears and extinct cave bears. | ancient dna studies have revolutionized the study of extinct species and populations, providing insights on phylogeny, phylogeography, admixture and demographic history. however, inferences on behaviour and sociality have been far less frequent. here, we investigate the complete mitochondrial genomes of extinct late pleistocene cave bears and middle holocene brown bears that each inhabited multiple geographically proximate caves in northern spain. in cave bears, we find that, although most caves ... | 2016 | 27506329 |
| geochemical evolution of amino acids in dentine of pleistocene bears. | a linear correlation was established between aspartic acid racemization ratio from cave bear dentine collagen and absolute dating. the high correlation coefficient obtained allowed age calculation through amino acid racemization. aspartic acid and glutamic acid racemization kinetics have also been explored in dentine from a north american black bear (ursus americanus pallas). three sample sets were prepared for kinetic heating experiments in nitrogen atmosphere: one water soaked, one with a wate ... | 2001 | 11466777 |
| growth trajectories in the cave bear and its extant relatives: an examination of ontogenetic patterns in phylogeny. | the study of postnatal ontogeny can provide insights into evolution by offering an understanding of how growth trajectories have evolved resulting in adult morphological disparity. the ursus lineage is a good subject for studying cranial and mandibular shape and size variation in relation to postnatal ontogeny and phylogeny because it is at the same time not diverse but the species exhibit different feeding ecologies. cranial and mandibular shapes of ursus arctos (brown bear), u. maritimus (pola ... | 2015 | 26525575 |
| the effect of body size evolution and ecology on encephalization in cave bears and extant relatives. | the evolution of larger brain volumes relative to body size in mammalia is the subject of an extensive amount of research. early on palaeontologists were interested in the brain of cave bears, ursus spelaeus, and described its morphology and size. however, until now, it was not possible to compare the absolute or relative brain size in a phylogenetic context due to the lack of an established phylogeny, comparative material, and phylogenetic comparative methods. in recent years, many tools for co ... | 2017 | 28583080 |
| dental microwear of cave bears: the missing temperate/boreal vegetarian "carnivore". | | 2009 | 19923433 |
| ancient dna and the population genetics of cave bears (ursus spelaeus) through space and time. | the cave bear spread from western europe to the near east during the riss glaciation (250 kya) before becoming extinct approximately 12 kya. during that period, the climatic conditions were highly dynamic, oscillating between glacial and temperate episodes. such events have constrained the geographic repartition of species, the movements of populations and shaped their genetic diversity. we retrieved and analyzed ancient dna from 21 samples from five european caves ranging from 40 to 130 kya. co ... | 2002 | 12411601 |
| stable isotopes data (delta13c, delta15n) from the cave bear (ursus spelaeus): a new approach to its palaeoenvironment and dormancy. | palaeoclimatic data that can be extracted from the isotopic signatures of delta13c and delta15n, which are found in fossil bone collagen, should be analysed according to the specific metabolism of each species. although ursus spelaeus is an extinct species, its metabolism is assimilated to current, closely related species of bear. in this study, bone collagen isotopic signatures (delta13c and delta15n) of cave bears from late pleistocene alpine sites were compared to those that have already been ... | 2001 | 11375104 |
| changes in the intramolecular stable carbon isotope ratios with age of the european cave bear (ursus spelaeus). | changes with age in the diet and metabolism of the extinct european cave bear (ursus spelaeus) from the divje babe archaeological site in northwestern slovenia were investigated by comparing the stable carbon isotope ratio of whole bone collagen with that of the peptide-bonded carboxyl carbons in collagen. these carboxyl carbons were selectively released by decarboxylation of the collagen hydrolysate with ninhydrin (2,2-dihydroxy-1,3-indanedione). the stable carbon isotope ratio increased with a ... | 2001 | 28547486 |
| heavy reliance on plants for romanian cave bears evidenced by amino acid nitrogen isotope analysis. | heavy reliance on plants is rare in carnivora and mostly limited to relatively small species in subtropical settings. the feeding behaviors of extinct cave bears living during pleistocene cold periods at middle latitudes have been intensely studied using various approaches including isotopic analyses of fossil collagen. in contrast to cave bears from all other regions in europe, some individuals from romania show exceptionally high δ15n values that might be indicative of meat consumption. herbiv ... | 2020 | 32313007 |
| evolutionary history of saber-toothed cats based on ancient mitogenomics. | saber-toothed cats (machairodontinae) are among the most widely recognized representatives of the now largely extinct pleistocene megafauna. however, many aspects of their ecology, evolution, and extinction remain uncertain. although ancient-dna studies have led to huge advances in our knowledge of these aspects of many other megafauna species (e.g., mammoths and cave bears), relatively few ancient-dna studies have focused on saber-toothed cats [1-3], and they have been restricted to short fragm ... | 2017 | 29056454 |
| initial upper palaeolithic homo sapiens from bacho kiro cave, bulgaria. | the middle to upper palaeolithic transition in europe witnessed the replacement and partial absorption of local neanderthal populations by homo sapiens populations of african origin1. however, this process probably varied across regions and its details remain largely unknown. in particular, the duration of chronological overlap between the two groups is much debated, as are the implications of this overlap for the nature of the biological and cultural interactions between neanderthals and h. sap ... | 2020 | 32433609 |
| large-scale mitogenomic analysis of the phylogeography of the late pleistocene cave bear. | the cave bear (ursus spelaeus) is one of the late pleistocene megafauna species that faced extinction at the end of the last ice age. although it is represented by one of the largest fossil records in europe and has been subject to several interdisciplinary studies including palaeogenetic research, its fate remains highly controversial. here, we used a combination of hybridisation capture and next generation sequencing to reconstruct 59 new complete cave bear mitochondrial genomes (mtdna) from 1 ... | 2019 | 31417104 |
| microwear and isotopic analyses on cave bear remains from toll cave reveal both short-term and long-term dietary habits. | dietary habits of the extinct ursus spelaeus have always been a controversial topic in paleontological studies. in this work, we investigate carbon and nitrogen values in the bone collagen and dental microwear of u. spelaeus specimens recovered in level 4 from toll cave (moià, catalonia, ne iberian peninsula). these remains have been dated to > 49,000 14c bp. the ability of both proxies to provide data on the diet of u. spelaeus at different times in the life-history (isotopes: average diet of l ... | 2019 | 30952915 |
| author correction: heavy reliance on plants for romanian cave bears evidenced by amino acid nitrogen isotope analysis. | an amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. | 2020 | 33110176 |
| covid sniffer dogs, cave bear and corals - september's best science images. | | 2020 | 33024336 |
| biomechanical simulations reveal a trade-off between adaptation to glacial climate and dietary niche versatility in european cave bears. | the cave bear is one of the best known extinct large mammals that inhabited europe during the "ice age," becoming extinct ≈24,000 years ago along with other members of the pleistocene megafauna. long-standing hypotheses speculate that many cave bears died during their long hibernation periods, which were necessary to overcome the severe and prolonged winters of the last glacial. here, we investigate how long hibernation periods in cave bears would have directly affected their feeding biomechanic ... | 2020 | 32270039 |
| the promise of paleogenomics beyond our own species. | paleogenomics, also known as genome-wide ancient dna analysis, is transforming our understanding of the human past, but has been much less intensively used to understand the history of other species. however, paleogenomic studies of non-human animals and plants have the potential to address an equally rich range of evolutionary, paleoecological, paleoenvironmental, and archaeological research questions. three recent case studies of cave bears, horses, and maize provide examples of the ways that ... | 2019 | 30954285 |
| evidence of congenital block vertebra in pleistocene cave bear (ursus spelaeus) from cueva de guantes (palencia, spain). | this work provides a detailed description and differential diagnosis of a pleistocene cave bear (ursus spelaeus). | 2019 | 30465970 |
| palaeohistology and life history evolution in cave bears, ursus spelaeus sensu lato. | the abundance of skeletal remains of cave bears in pleistocene deposits can offer crucial information on the biology and life history of this megafaunal element. the histological study of 62 femora from 23 different european localities and comparisons with specimens of five extant ursid species revealed novel data on tissue types and growth patterns. cave bear's femoral bone microstructure is characterized by a fibrolamellar complex with increasing amounts of parallel-fibered and lamellar bone t ... | 2018 | 30462690 |
| high-precision in situ 87sr/86sr analyses through microsampling on solid samples: applications to earth and life sciences. | an analytical protocol for high-precision, in situ microscale isotopic investigations is presented here, which combines the use of a high-performing mechanical microsampling device and high-precision tims measurements on micro-sr samples, allowing for excellent results both in accuracy and precision. the present paper is a detailed methodological description of the whole analytical procedure from sampling to elemental purification and sr-isotope measurements. the method offers the potential to a ... | 2018 | 29850369 |
| frequency of appearance of transverse (harris) lines reflects living conditions of the pleistocene bear-ursus ingressus-(sudety mts., poland). | transverse lines, called harris lines (hl), osteological markers of recovery from growth arrest episodes, are visible in radiograms of recent and pleistocene fossil bones. since on the one hand they mark stressful episodes in life, and on the other are mainly used to trace health fluctuations in prehistoric human communities, i used a cave bear population to check if the processes that could affect the specie' condition were in any way reflected in the bone structure. 392 bear bones from bear ca ... | 2018 | 29684086 |