In terms of intelligence, polar bears are hardly inferior to primates: they are able to solve complex problems, navigate in three-dimensional space and have excellent memory.
Each animal, like a person, has its own bright personality.
When did the bears appear
Geneticists examined the DNA of 39 modern and 12 ancient brown bears that lived in different parts of the Holarctic.
It turned out that these animals can be divided into four large populations: European, Siberian, North American and Japanese, the lines of which diverged between 150 and 100 thousand years ago.
American and Tibetan bears were the first to separate from a common ancestor, then cave bears separated, polar bears separated about 700 thousand years ago, and then all brown bears.
The divergence time between the Himalayan lineage and the brown bear lineage is estimated at 658 thousand years.
Where did bears come from
A little history: according to scientists and archaeologists, bears descended from ancient martens about 3-4 million years ago.
The remains of such an ancient species were discovered on the territory of modern France.
It was a small Malayan bear. Later, the species evolved into a larger predatory animal - the Etruscan bear.
Previously, we talked about wild animals that can be tamed.
