#short face bear

[ruporas]

thinking about wolfwood (ID in alt text)

[spocks-kaathyra]

my second born son <333

taking suggestions for who to make next!!

[visions-of-our-past]

Something you might not know about J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth setting is that it isn't a different world like Narnia, but rather an imagined prehistoric age of our own, in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age.

Adaptations often lean into this by modeling the creatures of Middle Earth after existing prehistoric fauna.

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy depicted the elephant-like mûmakil as gomphotheres:

The same film trilogy's interpretation of the wargs rode into battle by orcs appear to have been modeled after Hyaenodon:

The less well-regarded prequel trilogy reimagined them as more traditional dire wolves:

In addition, the Elven king Thranduil was given a Megaloceros as a mount:

As well as a throne of Megaloceros antlers:

Later on, the character Beorn takes the form of a bear that resembles a giant short-faced bear.

Most recently, Amazon's Rings of Power series featured unidentified but clearly recognizable entelodonts:

Illustrators of the source books have also had fun with this. The Druedain, and occasionally the orcs, are sometimes depicted as primitive humans, and the flying mounts of the Nazgul as pterosaurs.

Of course, what if any prehistoric animals call Middle Earth home is open to interpretation. Feel free to share your own thoughts and theories.

[fridaybear]

What's this? An Andean bear coming to grace you on this fine Friday? Why, yes. Yes, it is. Y'all made it another week. We're proud of you, and we're happy you're here. Thanks for being a pal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Andean Bear" by Becker1999 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

[antiqueanimals]

Restoration of the head of the short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, by Charles R. Knight. From Terra: The Member's Magazine of The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Volume 31, No. 1. Fall 1992.

Internet Archive

[bearlyfunctioning]

On and off over the years I've been asked: Have you drawn a Short Faced bear? Cave bear? Any extinct genus? So with Prehistoric planet out I figured now might be a timely moment to finally do so ;) Cave bears basically look like huge Kodiaks so I chose the WIERD ANATOMY bois Arctodus Simus.

The short faced bear had... an...incredibly short face! Plus oddly long legs, they were built a little more like a hyena in shape. I dressed them speculatively like their only living cousins; the Spectacled/Andean bear. My inspiration for this was all those old extinct animal posters/illustrations that were everywhere in my childhood. Usually showing a m/f pair of the species with some faded or generic local environment. Hope you like it! I was drawing more realistically here.

[yezzyyae]

Omggg I called this last year! I said Jeremy Allen White is the next star of this generation, he is the Al Pacino of this generation! I am soo happy people are appreciating his work & seeing how much he love the craft of acting! Jeremy Allen White deserves every award that comes his way, him playing Carmen Berzatto helped me start healing wounds that I thought were healed.

JAW have every quality of a superstar & a plus is that he is very humble & warming in his everyday life. I see him doing so much more and blowing us all away as ALWAYS 👏🏾👏🏾

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

The Bat Family as shifters.

But they’re all some extinct animal.

[dread-doughnuts]

Carnivoran skulls from the Florida Museum of Natural History:

Lesser short-faced bear (Arctodus pristinus). Became extinct around 300,000 years ago, fossils are found in high concentrations in Florida. Related to the modern spectacled bear.

Ambruster’s wolf (Canis ambrusteri). Became extinct around 250,000 years ago, found throughout the United States. Taxonomy of this species is somewhat confusing, it may be related to modern grey wolves but may also be ancestral to dire wolves (which are now placed in the genus Aenocyon).

American lion (Panthera atrox). Became extinct around 11,000 years ago, found from Canada and the United States to southern Mexico. American lions were the sister species to Eurasian cave lions and are closely related to modern lions.

Sabertooth cat (Smilodon gracilis). Became extinct 500,000, had a fairly cosmopolitan range throughout North America and parts of South America. S. gracilis is the smallest Smilodon species and is believed to be the ancestor of S. fatalis and S. popular or. Sabertooth cats are not closely related to any modern species of cat.

[paigeoforacle]

Some dead friends from a weekend trip to the museum.

[gothamsaved]

Iiiiiii get a little scared me going off on long tangents in replies will scare some rp partners away. On the other hand, I love digging into a muses thoughts and emotions and especially for someone like Bruce, he has a lot going on in there while he also doesn’t typically say much unless he’s out actively socializing. It’s a strange thing where I’m still trying to find a comfortable balance or way to write both the Bat and Bruce, while making them sound like the same guy and also different, without smacking my head into a wall and overthinking things too much.

[funshinebf]

care bears head to toe baby

[makairodonx]

More sketches of the Pleistocene Megafauna, from top to bottom: Aenocyon dirus, Arctodus simus, Gigantopithecus blacki, Bison latifrons and Panthera spelaea

[fridaybear]

F👏R👏I👏D👏A👏Y Live it. Learn it. Love it. You make your weekend amazing. - - - - - - - "Andean Bear - Oso de Anteojos" by Santiago Ron is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Arctodus (Arctodus simus)

(Photo from La Brea Tar Pits)

Conservation Status- Extinct

Habitat- North America

Estimated Size (Weight/Length)- 950 kg; 3 m

Diet- Large mammals; Leaves; Fruits; Carrion

Time Period- Late Pleistocene

Cool Facts- Being possibly the largest terrestrial carnivore in North America, Arctodus was an absolutely massive bear that would put a grizzly to shame. Preferring open woodland, these massive bears are comparable to a long legged, short snouted grizzly as tall as an average man. Able to eat almost anything, the flexible range of the Arctodus speaks for itself. Arctodus was most likely solitary and hibernated through the winter, due to multiple skeletons being found in caves. Surprisingly, Arctodus was around at the same time modern grizzly and black bears roamed. Being much larger, Arctodus was seemingly a better competitor. At least, that is until climate change and humans killed off their main food source and resulted in the large bears going extinct.

Rating- 11/10 (Not your average Yogi.)

[captaincalian]

When I saw Tuunbaq’s face for the first tide, I was very caught off guard. I was expectin’ it to look more like the bear from Annihilation.

Side-Note: This was one of the final concept artworks created by Peter Ocampo for the Annihilation film.