Theriologia Ukrainica (Dec 2019)
Members of the family Ursidae in the Museum of Nature of Kharkiv University and their craniological features
Abstract
The exhibition and scientific collection of the Museum of Nature currently deposit 16 specimens of the family Ursidae (bears), which belong to three species and 6 subspecies. A, 4 specimens (two species with three subspecies) originate from animals collected in the nature. The oldest specimen stored in MNKU is a mounted male of Ursus arctos made as early as 1831. All specimens are listed in a table in a systematic order along with additional data and some measurements. The comparison of some craniological measurements of two species — Ursus arctos and Ursus maritimus — is presented. These species separated from the common ancestor about 2 million years ago and since they have adapted to different living conditions and nutrition, which is reflected in their measurements. Thus, when comparing the size of angular teeth, there is a noticeable advantage of Ursus arctos, as a predominantly herbivorous animal over the typical carnivorous Ursus maritimus — on average they are 31 percent longer in length and, unlike in Ursus arctos, the width of the mouth above the canines in Ursus maritimus exceeds the width of the mouth above the molar teeth. Particular attention is given to the comparison of the volume of the brain cavity as a rather important parameter, which is directly related to the "mental" capacity of animals. This parameter in Ursus maritimus is more than twice higher than that in Ursus arctos — in our case it is 89 percent (we measured two intact specimens of these species from our collection). This is most likely due to the fact that Ursus maritimus inhabits open spaces and has a more developed sense of smell and vision than Ursus arctos, which is predominantly a forest-dwelling animal. This indicator of bears is compared with that in other large predators — lions and tigers (bears lead in this comparison). Data on "mental" behaviour of bears are given based on which it can be argued that bears, especially Ursus maritimus, have the largest brain size among modern terrestrial predatory mammals. The Ursidae family collection is kept in good condition and can be used for both educational and scientific purposes.
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