Editing Cave bear (section)

===Dietary habits===
[[File:Ours des carvernes - Crâne.jpg|thumb|''Ursus spelaeus'' lacked the usual two or three premolars present in other bear species.]]
Cave bear teeth were very large and show greater wear than most modern bear species, suggesting a diet of tough materials. However, [[tubers]] and other gritty food, which cause distinctive tooth wear in modern brown bears, do not appear to have constituted a major part of cave bears' diets on the basis of [[dental microwear]] analysis.<ref>Pinto Llona, A. C., Andrews, P. & Etxeberrı´a, P. 2005: Taphonomy and Palaeoecology of Cave Bears from the Quaternary of Cantabrian Spain. Fondacio´n de Asturias/Du Pont Ibe´rica/The Natural History Museum, Grafinsa, Oviedo.</ref> Seed fruits are documented to have been consumed by cave bears.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Duñó-Iglesias |first=Paulo |last2=Ramírez-Pedraza |first2=Iván |last3=Rivals |first3=Florent |last4=Mirea |first4=Ionuț-Cornel |last5=Faur |first5=Luchiana-Maria |last6=Constantin |first6=Silviu |last7=Robu |first7=Marius |date=15 February 2024 |title=Palaeodiet during the pre-dormancy period of MIS 3 Romanian cave bears as inferred from dental microwear analysis |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018223006065 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |language=en |volume=636 |pages=111988 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111988|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The morphological features of the cave bear chewing apparatus, including loss of premolars, have long been suggested to indicate their diets displayed a higher degree of [[herbivory]] than the [[Eurasian brown bear]].<ref name=Kurten1976/> Indeed, a solely vegetarian diet has been inferred on the basis of tooth morphology.<ref name=Rabader2000/> Results obtained on the stable isotopes of cave bear bones also point to a largely vegetarian diet in having low levels of [[nitrogen-15]] and [[carbon-13]], which are accumulated at a faster rate by carnivores as opposed to herbivores.<ref name=Bocherens2006>{{Cite journal|author= Bocherens, H. |title=Bears and humans in Chauvet Cave (Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardeche, France): Insights from stable isotopes and radiocarbon dating of bone collagen |year=2006 |journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]] |volume=50 |pages=370–376|pmid= 16442587|issue= 3|doi= 10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.002|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name="Omnivore"/>

[[File:Osso e molari di Ursus spelaeus della mandibola inferiore.jpg|thumb|Detail of the molars of the lower jaw]]

However, some evidence points toward the occasional inclusion of animal protein in cave bear diets. For example, toothmarks on cave bear remains in areas where cave bears are the only recorded potential [[carnivore]]s suggests occasional cannibalistic scavenging,<ref name="Foxbear">{{cite news | url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320971,00.html | title = Prehistoric Cave Bears Weren't So Cuddly After All | work = FOXNews | access-date = 2008-01-11 | date = 2008-01-09 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100101013103/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320971,00.html | archive-date = 2010-01-01 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name=Pacher2000>{{Cite journal|author=Pacher, M. |title=Taphonomische Untersuchungen der Höhlenbären-Fundstellen in der Schwabenreith-Höhle bei Lunz am See (Niederösterreich) |year=2000 |journal=Beiträge zur Paläontologie |volume=25 |pages=11–85}}</ref> possibly on individuals that died during hibernation, and dental microwear analysis indicates the cave bear may have fed on a greater quantity of bone than its contemporary, the smaller Eurasian brown bear.<ref name="cavebear">{{Cite journal | url = http://www.geo.auth.gr/12icbs/proceedings/pinto.pdf| author=Pinto Llono, A.C. | series = Special |title = Comparative dental microwear analysis of cave bears Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller, 1794 and brown bears Ursus arctos Linnaeus ,1758 |year=2006 |journal = Scientific Annals, School of Geology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | volume= 98 |pages=103–108}}</ref> The dental microwear patterns of cave bear [[Molar (tooth)|molars]] from the northeastern [[Iberian Peninsula]] show that cave bears may have consumed more meat in the days and weeks leading up to hibernation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ramírez-Pedraza |first1=Iván |last2=Pappa |first2=Spyridoula |last3=Blasco |first3=Ruth |last4=Arilla |first4=Maite |last5=Rosell |first5=Jordi |last6=Millán |first6=Ferran |last7=Maroto |first7=Julià |last8=Soler |first8=Joaquim |last9=Soler |first9=Narcís |last10=Rivals |first10=Florent |date=20 August 2020 |title=Dietary habits of the cave bear from the Late Pleistocene in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618219307931 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=557 |pages=63–69 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2019.09.043 |bibcode=2020QuInt.557...63R |s2cid=204261124 |access-date=4 February 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Additionally, cave bear remains from [[Peștera cu Oase]] in the southwestern tip of the Romanian part of the [[Carpathian Mountains]] had elevated levels of nitrogen-15 in their bones, indicative of [[omnivore|omnivorous]] diets,<ref name="Omnivore"/><ref name="Richards2008">{{Cite journal |author=Richards |first1=Michael P. |last2=Pacher |first2=Martina |last3=Stiller |first3=Mathias |last4=Quilès |first4=Jérôme |last5=Hofreiter |first5=Michael |last6=Constantin |first6=Silviu |last7=Zilhão |first7=João |last8=Trinkaus |first8=Erik |display-authors= |date=15 January 2008 |title=Isotopic evidence for omnivory among European cave bears: Late Pleistocene Ursus spelaeus from the Pestera cu Oase, Romania. |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=600–604 |bibcode=2008PNAS..105..600R |doi=10.1073/pnas.0711063105 |pmc=2206582 |pmid=18187577 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robu |first=Marius |last2=Wynn |first2=Jonathan G. |last3=Mirea |first3=Ionuţ C. |last4=Petculescu |first4=Alexandru |last5=Kenesz |first5=Marius |last6=Puşcaş |first6=Cristina M. |last7=Vlaicu |first7=Marius |last8=Trinkaus |first8=Erik |last9=Constantin |first9=Silviu |date=10 November 2017 |editor-last=O'Regan |editor-first=Hannah |title=The diverse dietary profiles of MIS 3 cave bears from the Romanian Carpathians: insights from stable isotope (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) analysis |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12338 |journal=[[Palaeontology (journal)|Palaeontology]] |language=en |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=209–219 |doi=10.1111/pala.12338 |issn=0031-0239 |access-date=24 March 2024 |via=Wiley Online Library}}</ref> although the values are within the range of those found for the strictly herbivorous [[mammoth]].<ref>Bocherens, H. 2003: Isotopic biogeochemistry and the paleoecology of the mammoth steppe fauna. In Reumer, F., Braber, F., Mol, D. & de Vos, J. (eds.): Advances in Mammoth Research, 57–76. Deinsea 9.</ref> One isotopic study concluded that cave bears displayed omnivorous habits similar to those of modern brown bears.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Robu |first1=Marius |last2=Fortin |first2=Jennifer K. |last3=Richards |first3=Michael P. |last4=Schwartz |first4=Charles C. |last5=Wynn |first5=Jonathan G. |last6=Robbins |first6=Charles T. |last7=Trinkaus |first7=Erik |date=13 February 2013 |title=Isotopic evidence for dietary flexibility among European Late Pleistocene cave bears ( Ursus spelaeus ) |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/cjz-2012-0222 |journal=[[Canadian Journal of Zoology]] |language=en |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=227–234 |doi=10.1139/cjz-2012-0222 |issn=0008-4301 |access-date=13 January 2024}}</ref>

Although the current prevailing opinion concludes that cave bears were largely herbivorous, and more so than any modern species of the genus ''[[Ursus (genus)|Ursus]]'',<ref name="extinction"/> increasing evidence points to omnivorous diets, based both on regional variability of isotopic composition of bone remains indicative of dietary plasticity,<ref name="Omnivore"/><ref name=Richards2008/> and on a recent re-evaluation of craniodental morphology that places the cave bear squarely among omnivorous modern bear species with respect to its skull and tooth shapes.<ref name=Figueirido2009>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00511.x|author=Figueirido, B. |title=Ecomorphological correlates of craniodental variation in bears and paleobiological implications for extinct taxa: an approach based on geometric morphometrics |year=2009 |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=277|issue=1 |pages=70–80|display-authors=etal}}</ref>