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Glenn0o7 — Ursus arctos
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Published: 2019-12-11 20:02:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 10828; Favourites: 85; Downloads: 0
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Description
Bears
Ursus arctos ~ Art / Mathghamhain
The Brown Bear is one of the largest land carnivores in Europe. For thousands of years Brown Bears roamed Ireland. Ireland was once clothed in a dense woodland and the Irish Bears called these ancient Celtic rainforests home.
Irish Bears would have preyed upon Red deer, wild boar & Irish hares and they would have fished in our salmon rich rivers. The Bears would have fattened up for their winter hibernation by eating berries and other seasonal fruits in Autumn.
Bears hibernated in caves and this is where we find many bear bones.
DNA evidence suggests that Irish brown bears maybe the ancestor of the modern Polar Bear. By studying the DNA extracted from Brown Bear remains found in Irish caves, scientists were able to confirm that Irish brown bears were the maternal ancestors of the Polar Bear. Prior to this finding it was believed that the Polar Bear descended from bears on the west coast of Canada and the United States.
It is heard to pinpoint when the Brown Bear went Extinct in Ireland. We know that Caledonian Brown Bears from Scotland were sent to Rome to fight in the Coliseums. Many of the bones found in Ireland have butcher cut marks which indicate that the Irish people were hunting the bears. It is believed that the Irish brown bear went extinct around 2,500 years ago due to deforestation and loss of habitat to agriculture. It is possible that the bears survived here until more recent times in the mountains and last remaining pockets of forest.
The Irish bear lives on in our folklore. The Irish name McMahon (Mac Mathghamhain) means son of bear.
For the first time in thousands of years the Irish Brown Bear can be found, back in the woodlands of County Donegal.
www.wildireland.org/
