Mexican grizzly bear
| Mexican grizzly bear | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | U. arctos |
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The Mexican grizzly bear (Ursus arctos; formerly Ursus arctos nelsoni) is an extinct population of the grizzly bear.
The holotype was shot by H. A. Cluff at Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua in 1899. The extinct California grizzly extended slightly south into Baja California Norte. The bears in Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora and central Mexico were likely more related to the bears of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas than to those of California.
Known in the Opatas language as the pissini, the Mexican grizzly bear was one of the heaviest and largest mammals in Mexico. It reached a length up to 1.83 metres (6.0 ft) and an average weight of 318 kilograms (701 lb). Due to its silver fur it was often named "el oso plateado" (the silver bear). The Mexican grizzly bear was smaller than the grizzly bears in the United States and Canada. The general color was pale buffy yellowish varying to grayish-white, grizzled from the darker color of the underfur. Specimens in worn pelage varied to yellowish-brown and reddish. The longest fur hairs were on the throat and the flanks. The belly was sparsely haired lacking the thick underfur of the back and the flanks.
The Mexican grizzly bear inhabited the northern territories of Mexico, in particular the temperate grasslands and mountainous pine forests. Its previous range reached from Arizona to New Mexico and Mexico.
Like all brown bears, Mexican grizzly bears were omnivores. Their diet mainly consisted of plants, fruits and insects and it is reported that it was very fond of ants, like most brown bears. Occasionally it fed also on small mammals and carrion. Females produced one to three cubs every three years or so.
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Wikipedia