Pleistocene small cave bear

The Pleistocene small cave bear, Ursus rossicus, was an extinct bear that lived in the steppe regions of northern Eurasia and Siberia during the Pleistocene and belongs to the cave bear species complex. Its first remains were found in the Altai Mountains in 1973 by Vereshchagin, and further fossils come from Bachatsk Quarry, Krasni Yar and Mokhovo Quarry in Tomsk Province and from Denisova Cave. It had a very broad, domed skull with a steep forehead and a stout body with long thighs, massive shins and in-turning feet, much like the brown bear in skeletal structure. Microwear on its incisors suggests a diet of coarse, dry vegetation and frequent rhizophagy, the eating of roots, and microwear on the dental specimens shows little change in diet over an individual bear's lifetime.