A PARTIAL SHORT-FACED BEAR SKELETON FROM AN OZARK CAVE WITH COMMENTS ON THE PALEOBIOLOGY OF THE SPECIES

In December 1998, Andy Free, a member of a cave map-ping crew led by one of the authors (JEK), discovered the frag-mentary remains of a large skeleton in the far reaches of a Missouri Ozark cave (Fig. 1). The survey crew was composed of members of the Missouri School of Mines Spelunkers Club from the University of Missouri-Rolla. This discovery led to a paleontological survey of the site in January 1999 by BWS. Following the preliminary identification of the specimen as Arctodus simus, excavations supported by the Illinois State Museum (ISM), the Missouri School of Mines Spelunkers Club, and the Cave Research Foundation, began in late February 1999. Due to logistical challenges associated with the site, excavations were not completed until March 2000. Here we present a description of this find from Big Bear Cave (BBC) and evaluate some aspects of the paleobiology of short-faced bears. A magazine article provided an informal account of this project (Schubert 2001). SHORT-FACED BEARS Although ursids first appear during the Miocene, their fos-sil record remains relatively meager until the Pleistocene. Two ursid subfamilies are represented in the New World, Tremarctinae and Ursinae. The earliest known tremarctine is the late Miocene Plionarctos (Tedford & Martin 2001). Arctodus appears during the Pliocene and is represented by Arctodus pristinus (lesser short-faced bear), a smaller, more gracile form with a proportionally longer snout than A. simus (giant short-faced bear) (Kurtén & Anderson 1980). Five species of short-faced bears have been described from th