Not-so-Gentle Ben: Fossils of the largest bear that ever lived found in Argentina

[Judi Lynn]

Not-so-Gentle Ben: Fossils of the largest bear that ever lived found in Argentina
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:03 PM on 4th February 2011

South American giant short-faced bear was 11ft-tall.

The remains of the largest bear that ever lived have been found in Argentina.

Fossils of the South American giant short-faced bear, which stood at a powerful 11ft-tall, were found in La Plata City.
The bear - Arctotherium angustidens - lived between two million to 500,000 years ago and was the most powerful land predator in the world during its lifetime, scientists said.

Construction workers unearthed the remains during the building of a hospital.

Paleontologists have measured the fossil's leg bones and estimated its body mass - they believe it would have weighed between 1,600 and 1,750 kilograms and stood at at least 11ft.

More:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1353708/Fossils-largest-bear-lived-Argentina.html?ITO=1490

[FiveGoodMen]

1. For some reason, everything's bigger in Argentina

[xchrom]

2. some interesting additional information here

http://www.thelordgeekington.com/2011/01/arctotherium-angustidens-biggest-bear.html

The most striking aspect of this specimen are the osteogenic changes to the deltoid crests of both humeri - more apparent in the left humerus pictured above, see arrow - and the distal third of the left radius shaft, which suggest a deep injury followed by infection and then new vascular growth over a long period of time (Soibelzon and Schubert 2011). Judging by the high degree of epiphyseal fusion, the specimen managed to become an old adult (Soibelzon and Schubert 2011). Humeral mid-shaft measurements gave on average larger estimated masses (Soibelzon and Schubert 2011 - Table 3), which makes me wonder if the measurements were artificially inflated by the injury and subsequent pathological growth. However, the limited data on Table 3 shows similar proportions with a somewhat smaller specimen:

for those into graph porn -- there are some graphs here.

[Kennah]

3. Oh course the bears are bigger

Chupacabras will take a nasty bite outta you.