Climate resilience of brown bears over 175,000 years revealed in 3D analyses of their jaws

European brown bears are masters of survival: These animals have weathered Pleistocene climate fluctuations and survived the cycles of ice ages and interglacial periods to the present day.

Zoologists have now investigated the origins of this evolutionary flexibility: 3D analyses of bear jaws show that certain chewing structures in the lower jaw of brown bears have apparently adapted very flexibly to changing climatic conditions.

SNSB zoologist Anneke van Heteren has now published her findings in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. ...