David Rives
Do you know what kind of animal this skull is? Well, it’s really large. It’s about 18 in long, and about 11 in wide. And look, it has these long, pointed canine teeth. Some of these teeth are about 2 in long. That looks kind of scary!
If your guess is that this is a bear, then you’re right.
There are eight different species of bears across the earth, including the polar bear, the brown bear, the American black bear, the giant panda, you got the sloth bear, the spectacled bear, the Asian black bear, and the sun bear.
Now, this skull with me in studio is of the brown bear. It’s one of the largest bears, only to the polar bear in size. But brown bears and polar bears are closely related. They even can have cubs with each other, creating a hybrid known as a growler or a pizzly bear.
Now, when you look at these long pointed teeth that you can see here, you may think, “Oh, these are serious meat eaters.” But the majority of a bear’s diet is not meat. Up to 90% of what they eat is vegetation like berries, roots, bulbs, and grasses. Brown bears do of course eat some meat, including insects and rodents, some birds, some salmon.
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