MacFarlane's bear facts for kids
Quick facts for kids MacFarlane's bear |
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The MacFarlane's bear was a large grizzly bear that was killed in Canada's Northwest Territories in 1864. This bear became famous because some scientists thought it might be a completely new type of bear.
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The Mysterious Bear's Discovery
In 1864, Inuit hunters in Canada shot a very large bear. This bear had unusual yellow fur. They gave its skin and skull to Roderick MacFarlane. He was a manager for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Anderson. MacFarlane was also an amateur naturalist, meaning he studied nature as a hobby.
MacFarlane sent the bear's skin and skull to the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. For many years, the remains were stored away and forgotten.
An Unexpected Find
Later, a scientist named Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam found the bear's remains. He believed the bear had been found very far from where brown bears usually live. Because of this, he thought it was not a regular brown bear at all.
In 1918, Dr. Merriam decided that the bear was a brand new species and genus. He named it Vetularctos inopinatus. This name means "ancient unexpected bear."
What Scientists Say Today
For a long time, people wondered if MacFarlane's bear was truly a unique species.
Modern Scientific Study
In an episode of the TV show Monster Quest, a paleontologist named Dr. Blaine W. Schubert studied the skull of MacFarlane's bear. He works at East Tennessee State University. Dr. Schubert was very sure about his findings. He stated that the skull belonged to a young, female brown bear. He also said it was not an unusually large bear.
Correcting Bear Classifications
In 1984, a scientist named E. Raymond Hall published an important paper. He wanted to correct some earlier ideas about brown bears. Dr. Merriam had once suggested there were 96 different types of brown bears. Hall showed that many of these were actually the same.
Hall concluded that Vetularctos inopinatus was just a regular grizzly bear. It was the same as U. arctos horribilis, which is the common scientific name for grizzly bears. So, the mysterious MacFarlane's bear was likely just a normal grizzly bear after all.
