ursid - Synonyms for ursid | Synonyms Of ursid

Examples of "ursid"
Comet 8P/Tuttle is responsible for the Ursid meteor shower in late December.
A number of hybrids have been bred between American black, brown, and polar bears (see Ursid hybrids).
Dinocyon is an extinct genus of ursid carnivore of the Miocene epoch, endemic to Europe living from around 20.3—5.3 Ma, existing for approximately .
Ailuropoda is the only extant genus in the ursid (bear) subfamily Ailuropodinae. It contains one living and four fossil species of giant panda.
Cephalogale is an extinct genus of hemicyonid ursid which appeared in the late Oligocene through Miocene epochs, endemic to North America and Europe living from around 33.9—20 Mya, existing for about 33.9-20 million years.
Predictions that the 2007 Ursid meteor shower could be expected to be stronger than usual due to the return of the comet, did not appear to materialize, as counts were in the range of normal distribution.
A grizzly–polar bear hybrid (also named grolar bear, pizzly bear) is a rare ursid hybrid that has occurred both in captivity and in the wild. In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of a unique-looking bear that had been shot near Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories on Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic.
A DNA test conducted by Wildlife Genetics International in British Columbia confirmed it was a hybrid, with a polar bear mother and a grizzly bear father. It is the first documented case in the wild, though it was known that this hybrid was biologically possible and other ursid hybrids have been bred in zoos in the past.
The appearance of this animal was vaguely similar to that of a particularly robust, large felid, but the skull resembles that of a canid or an ursid, like that of many amphicyonids. Unlike most other amphicyonids, "Magericyon" had teeth associated with those of a hypercarnivore, with laterally flattened canines, the third premolar having a single root, the absence of second premolars and a metaconid on its lower molars, with a reduction in the second upper molar. The scapula and the front leg showed primitive features such as an acromion in the shoulder with a reduced caudoventral projection and post scapular pit. "Magericyon" was roughly equivalent to a large leopard in size, weighing around .
Parictis is the earliest genus of bear known. It was a very small and graceful ursid with a skull only 7 cm long. "Parictis" first appeared in North America in the Late Eocene (ca. 38 million years ago), but it did not arrive in Eurasia until the Miocene. There is some suggestion that "Parictis" may have emigrated from Asia into North America during the major sea level low circa 37 mya, because of the continued evolution of the Amphicynodontinae into the Hemicyoninae in Asia. Although no "Parictis" fossils have been found in East Asia, "Parictis" does appear in Eurasia and Africa but not until the Miocene.
Ursavus is an extinct genus of ursid carnivoran mammals that existed in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Miocene, living from about 23—5.3 million years ago (Mya), existing for roughly . The genus apparently dispersed from Asia into North America about 20 Mya, becoming the earliest member of the subfamily Ursinae in the New World. Qiu points out that if a questionable 29-million-year-old specimen of "Ursavus" reported in North America is validated, "Ursavus" may have evolved in North America and dispersed westward into Asia. The higher number of fossils in Europe grading toward eastern Asia make the westward dispersal unlikely.
The brown bear ("Ursus arctos") is a large bear with the widest distribution of any living ursid. The species is distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It is one of the two largest terrestrial carnivorans alive today, rivaled in body size only by its close cousin, the polar bear ("Ursus maritimus"), which is much less variable in size and averages larger due to this. There are several recognized subspecies, many of which are quite well-known within their native ranges, found in the brown bear species.
An ursid hybrid is an animal with parents from two different species or subspecies of the Ursidae (bear) family. Species and subspecies of bear known to have produced offspring with another bear species or subspecies include brown bears, black bears, grizzly bears and polar bears, all of which are members of the "Ursus" genus. Bears not included in "Ursus", such as the giant panda, are probably unable to produce hybrids. Note all of the confirmed hybrids listed here have been in captivity (except grizzly/polar bear), but there have been hybrids in the wild.
A grizzly–polar bear hybrid (known as a "pizzly bear" or "grolar bear") is a rare ursid hybrid resulting from a union of a brown bear and a polar bear. It has occurred both in captivity and in the wild. In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of a strange-looking bear that had been shot in the Canadian arctic. Previously, the hybrid had been produced in zoos, and was considered a "cryptid" (a hypothesized animal for which there is no scientific proof of existence in the wild).
A recent study has finally resolved the exact position of "Ailurus": the red panda is neither a procyonid nor an ursid, but forms a monotypic family, with the other musteloids as its closest living relatives. The same study also showed that the mustelids are not a primitive family, as was once thought. Their small body size is a secondary trait—the primitive body form of the arctoids was large, not small. Recent molecular studies also suggest that the endemic Carnivora of Madagascar, including three genera usually classed with the civets and four genera of mongooses classed with the Herpestidae, are all descended from a single ancestor. They form a single sister taxon to the Herpestidae. The hyenas are also closely related to this clade.
The brown bear is a naturally long-lived animal. Wild females have been observed reproducing up to 28 years of age, which is the oldest known age for reproduction of any ursid in the wild. The peak reproductive age for females ranges from 4 to 20 years old. The lifespan of brown bears of both sexes within minimally hunted populations is estimated at an average of 25 years. The oldest wild brown bear on record was nearly 37 years old. The oldest recorded female in captivity was nearly 40 years old, while males in captivity have been verified to live up to 47 years, with one captive male possibly attaining 50 years of age.
There are over 260 species of carnivorans, the majority of which feed primarily on meat. They have a characteristic skull shape and dentition. South America is notable for its diversity of canids, having in spite of their relatively brief history there. South America's felid diversity is also greater than that of North America north of Mexico, while its mustelid diversity is comparable and its mephitid and ursid diversities are lower. Its procyonid diversity is somewhat less than , the center of the family's recent evolution. The diversification of canids and felids in South America was partly a consequence of the inability of the continent's native avian and metatherian predators to compete effectively following the Great American Interchange.
Horace Tuttle discovered or co-discovered numerous comets, including 55P/Tempel-Tuttle (parent body of the Leonid meteor shower, discovered by Tuttle January 6, 1866), and 109P/Swift-Tuttle (parent body of the Perseid meteor shower, disc. July 19, 1862), the "Great Comet of 1860", C/1860 III (disc. June 22, 1860), C/1859 G1 Tempel (disc April 24, 1859). Other periodic comets that bear his name are 8P/Tuttle (parent comet of the Ursid meteor shower; disc. January 5, 1858 "rather faint") and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak (disc. May 3, 1858 in Leo Minor "very faint"), C/1861 Y1 Tuttle, (disc. December 19, 1862), C/1859 G1 Tempel (disc. April 28, 1859). The asteroid 5036 Tuttle was named in his honor. In 1859 he was awarded the Lalande Prize of the French Academy of Sciences for the discovery of comets 1858I, 1858III, and 1858VII.
Spectacled bears are more herbivorous than most other bears; normally about 5 to 7% of their diets is meat. The most common foods for these bears include cactus, bromeliads (especially "Puya" ssp., "Tillandsia" ssp. and "Guzmania" ssp.) palm nuts, bamboo hearts, frailejon ("Espeletia" spp.), orchid bulbs, fallen fruit on the forest floor, and unopened palm leaves. They will also peel back tree bark to eat the nutritious second layer. Much of this vegetation is very tough to open or digest for most animals, and the bear is one of the few species in its range to exploit these food sources. The spectacled bear has the largest zygomatic mandibular muscles relative to its body size and the shortest muzzle of any living bear, slightly surpassing the relative size of the giant panda's ("Ailuropoda melanoleuca") morphology here. Not coincidentally, both species are known for extensively consuming tough, fiberous plants. Unlike the ursid bears whose fourth premolar has a more well-developed protoconid, an adaptation for shearing flesh, the fourth premolar of spectacled bears has blunt lophs with three pulp cavities instead of two, and can have three roots instead of the two that characterize ursid bears. The musculature and tooth characteristics are designed to support the stresses of grinding and crushing vegetation. Besides the giant panda, the spectacled bear is perhaps the most herbivorous living bear species. These bears also eat cultivated plants, such as sugarcane ("Saccharum" ssp.), honey (made by "Apis" ssp.), and corn ("Zea mays"), and have been known to travel above the tree line for berries and more ground-based bromeliads. When food is abundant, such as large corn fields, up to nine individual bears have fed close by each other in a single vicinity. Animal prey is usually quite small, but these bears can prey on adult deer, llama ("Lama glama") and domestic cattle ("Bos primigenius taurus") and horses ("Equus ferus caballus"). Animal prey has included rabbits, mice, other rodents, birds at the nest (especially ground-nesting birds like tinamous or lapwings ("Vanellus" ssp.)), arthropods, and carrion. They are occasionally accused of killing livestock, especially cattle, and raiding corn fields. Allegedly, some bears become habituated to eating cattle, but the bears are actually more likely to eat cattle as carrion and some farmers may accidentally assume the spectacled bear killed them. Due to fear of loss of stock, bears may be killed on sight.
Adults have massive, heavily built concave skulls, which are large in proportion to the body. The forehead is high and rises steeply. The projections of the skull are well developed when compared to those of Asian black bears ("Ursus thibetanus"): the latter have sagittal crests not exceeding more than 19–20% of the total length of the skull, while the former have sagittal crests comprising up to 40–41% of the skull's length. Skull projections are more weakly developed in females than in males. The braincase is relatively small and elongated. There is a great deal of geographical variation in the skull, and presents itself chiefly in dimensions. Grizzlies, for example, tend to have flatter profiles than European and coastal American brown bears. Skull lengths of Russian bears tend to be for males, and for females. The width of the zygomatic arches in males is , and in females. Brown bears have very strong teeth: the incisors are relatively big and the canine teeth are large, the lower ones being strongly curved. The first three molars of the upper jaw are underdeveloped and single crowned with one root. The second upper molar is smaller than the others, and is usually absent in adults. It is usually lost at an early age, leaving no trace of the alveolus in the jaw. The first three molars of the lower jaw are very weak, and are often lost at an early age. The teeth of brown bears reflect their dietary plasticity and are broadly similar to other bears excluding the two most herbivorous living bears, the giant panda ("Ailuropoda melanoleuca") and spectacled bear ("Tremarctos ornatus"), which have blunt, small premolars (ideal for grinding down fibrous plants) compared to the jagged premolars of ursid bears that at least seasonally often rely on flesh as a food source. The teeth are reliably larger than American black bears but average smaller in molar length than polar bears. Brown bears have the broadest skull of any extant ursine bear, only the afforementioned most herbivorous living bears exceed them in relative breadth of the skull. Another extant ursine bear, the sloth bear ("Melursus ursinus"), has a proportionately longer skull than the brown bear and can match the skull length of even large brown bear races, presumably as an aid for foraging heavily on insect colonies for which a long muzzle is helpful as an evolved feature in several unrelated mammalian groups.