A ‘kitten-otter-bear’? Untangling the identity of a very strange skeleton https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/bear-ancestor-untangling-identity-strange-mammal-skeleton by Riley Black

An exquisitely preserved skeleton of #Eoarctos vorax from Fitterer Ranch, North Dakota (early #Oligocene) and systematics and #phylogeny of North American early #arctoids https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2022.2145900

"This ancestor of #bears was the size of a #raccoon with the claws of a #cat and really bad teeth. No wonder it took decades for #scientists to figure out what it is."

Oligocene-Period Raccoon-Like Mammal Had Mollusk-Based Diet https://www.sci.news/paleontology/eoarctos-vorax-11988.html

An exquisitely preserved skeleton of #Eoarctos vorax from #NorthDakota (early #Oligocene) and systematics and phylogeny of North American early #arctoids https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2022.2145900

E. vorax belongs to #Subparictidae, a North American family of extinct bear-like #carnivorans within the infraorder Arctoidea. The animal also had cat-like claws that likely helped it climb up and down the trees of the ancient wetland.