Paleontologists have discovered a new species of extinct giant bear

A new species of the extinct giant bear Urakan Borisyak, which lived in Russia about 5-6 million years ago, has been identified and described. This was announced on November 3 by Alexey Lopatin, Director of the Borisyak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"I have described a new species from an extinct group of giant bears related to modern large pandas. I named it Urakan Borisyak in honor of the first director of the Paleontological Institute, academician Alexei Alekseevich Borisyak (1872-1944), who also studied fossil bears," the scientist told RIA Novosti.

According to Lopatin, this bear was comparable in size to the largest modern brown bears and was an active predator capable of fast running.

"Ancient bears have not been studied exhaustively, so new species will still be found in different countries of the world, including in Russia," he added.

The study was conducted on remains about 5.5–6 million years old, found in the Stavropol Territory. So far, Borisyak's urakan is known only by one individual.

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Earlier, on August 14, researchers from Russia and South Korea conducted a study of the genetic history of the extinct Dokdo sea lions. Scientists have confirmed that this species was the oldest branch of sea lions and found traces of its interbreeding with other species of fur seals, which helped the ancestors better adapt to environmental changes.

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