Deninger's bear

Deninger's bear, Ursus deningeri, was an extinct bear that lived across Eurasia from the late Early Pleistocene into the Middle Pleistocene. It is the earliest member of the cave bear lineage and is widely accepted as the ancestor of the later cave bears, having probably evolved from Ursus etruscus, perhaps through Ursus dolinensis. It was smaller than the Late Pleistocene cave bears and had less stout canine teeth, and males were about twice the size of females. Its fossils range from the Iberian Peninsula and Britain to Greece, the Caucasus, Israel, Central Asia and northern China. Tooth wear points to a diet heavy in tubers and nuts, though isotope studies show it was not wholly herbivorous. Cut marks on bones from Boxgrove in England and Medzhibozh in Ukraine show that archaic humans made use of its remains.