Strictly speaking, bears are omnivores, eating both meat and plant fruits and young leaves, which makes bears far more viable than other predators. Polar bears and Siberian black bears ruled the cold north, but during the Ice Age millions of years ago, a stronger, more rogue bear lived on the North American continent, the short-faced bear.
The giants of the Ice Age, there are almost no one who is not afraid of short-faced bears. The behemoth can stand taller than 3 meters, with the highest recorded at 4.2 meters, and the North American short-faced bear weighs about 1 ton, and the South American giant short-faced bear weighs an average of more than 1.5 tons. It is the largest bear in earth's history, with long limbs and a large mouth full of fangs.
Short-faced bears have the athletic ability of predators, and can crush opponents in strength, with a thick skin, short-faced bears have been rampant in the Americas for millions of years, lasting more than other predators.
Paleontologists have found that short-faced bears first appeared around 2.6 million years ago, when the American continent lacked strong predators, and short-faced bears were able to obtain a rich food source and evolve such a huge size. If we look at the face of the short-faced bear, you will find that its face is very short, with an aspect ratio of 80%, and its forehead is almost as wide as that of an African lion, which gives the short-faced bear developed muscle tissue, making it the strongest in the Americas.
Late bears walk almost always with their toes bent inwards, which makes us almost clumsy when we see bears walking, but short-faced bears are straight-walking athletes who run like the wind. With strong speed and explosive power, short-faced bears can single-handedly catch North American bison and reindeer, while saber-toothed tigers, lion-like, dire wolves and other giant beasts at that time can only face short-faced bears.
Short-faced bears have a wide range of recipes and eat fruits in addition to meat. During lactation, female bears even feed on scavenging. It stands to reason that an animal as strong as a short-faced bear should not go extinct.
Scientists still don't know the real reason for the extinction of the short-faced bear, which may be due to the large reduction of animals caused by quaternary glaciers, which has made the short-faced bear's food source scarce. What do you think?