Atlas bear

Beast hunts in the Roman Empire

The Atlas bear is believed to have lived in the North African Atlas Mountains and the adjacent regions of Libya, Algeria, and Morocco. There are no photos, scientific illustrations, museum specimens, or complete skeletons of the Atlas bear. What remains are subfossil bones from caves, old travel reports, and ancient sources.

Ancient sources mainly indicate that the Atlas bear was captured by animal trappers and sold to the Romans, who killed them for public entertainment in venationes (beast hunts), hunted them for sport, or used them to execute condemned criminals. Alongside gladiator fights, animal hunts were one of the major entertainment attractions of the Roman Empire until the 6th century.

In these so-called venationes, wild animals from Africa, India, and the Middle East were pitted against each other. Over time, these hunts became larger and more expensive, increasing the depletion of wild animals and contributing to their extinction.

Animal hunts and gladiator fights likely contributed not only to the disappearance of the Atlas bear but also to the extinction of the Barbary lion, aurochs, Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), and African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus).

Atlas bear – fact sheet

Alternative names	African bear, North African brown bear, Atlas brown bear
Scientific names	Ursus arctos crowtheri, Ursus crowtheri, Ursus arctos faidherbi
Original range	North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Libya)
Time of extinction	around 1869
Causes of extinction	overhunting

Atlas bear: Subspecies of the brown bear or a distinct species?

The Atlas bear is the only bear species known to have lived in Africa during historical times, as scientists have found bones of this bear species in caves.

It was not until the late 19th century that scientists discovered fossil and subfossil remains of the Atlas bear. Most experts consider the Atlas bear, based on these bone findings, to be an extinct subspecies of the still-existing brown bear (Ursus arctos). However, some believe that the Atlas bear was a distinct species.

The exact origin of the Atlas bear remains uncertain. A 2008 study by Sebastien Calvignac and colleagues found no genetic similarity with brown bears. However, the researchers did find a weak connection to polar bears. Cave paintings from Andalusia, Spain, depict polar bears, suggesting that these animals once inhabited the region. From Andalusia, the bears could have swum to the Atlas Mountains.

The exact extinction date of the Atlas bear is unclear. The last known female was likely shot in 1869 or 1870 in Morocco, but there are also unconfirmed sightings by naturalist Jules René Bourguignat, who reported seeing bears in eastern Algeria in 1869. Experts agree that the Atlas bear was eradicated in the 19th century.

Since the Atlas bear went extinct after 1869 and the species was only part of Roman venationes until the 6th century, its extinction cannot be solely attributed to these ancient animal hunts.

Instead, the Atlas bear’s extinction followed closely after the invention of modern firearms, which made it easier to hunt large animals like bears. Additionally, overhunting and the capture of individual animals for zoos, with no chance for breeding, likely contributed to the species’ demise.

About the size of the European brown bear

Swiss zoologist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz was the first to scientifically describe the Atlas bear. His concise initial description can be found in his 1844 work Systematisches Verzeichniss aller bis jetzt bekannten Säugethiere.

Schinz described the Atlas bear as having brown-black fur and a black snout. The snout and claws were reportedly smaller than those of the American black bear (Ursus americanus), while its body was more compact and robust.

Bone findings suggest that the Atlas bear was likely about the same size as the European brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos). European brown bears can stand 1.70 to 2.20 meters tall and weigh between 100 and 350 kilograms, with males being significantly heavier than females. Experts estimate that the Atlas bear weighed between 200 and 450 kilograms and had a body length of around 275 centimeters.

Unlike the also-extinct Mexican grizzly bear and the Ungava brown bear (U. a. ungavaesis), the Atlas bear is recognized as a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos). The Mexican and Ungava grizzlies were populations of the grizzly bear on the North American continent (U. a. horribilis).

The Atlas bear—a vegetarian?

Much about the biology of the Atlas bear remains unknown. However, a study published in 2026 provides important clues about its diet. A research team led by Shaymae Iken examined bone finds from the Moroccan Rif Mountains. The most important samples date to the Early Holocene and are around 11,000 to 10,000 years old. In total, the team analysed 150 bone samples; in 54 of them, the collagen was well enough preserved to evaluate stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes.

Such isotopic signatures can reveal an animal’s position in the food chain. Nitrogen is particularly informative: carnivores generally have higher levels of heavy nitrogen isotopes than herbivores. In the Atlas bears studied, the result was unusually clear. Their nitrogen values were not only far below those of predators, but even lower than those of coexisting ungulates such as gazelles or Barbary sheep. The researchers therefore describe their diet as extremely plant-based—a form of “hyperherbivory”.

The carbon values also support this interpretation. They suggest that the bears used similar basic plant resources as other herbivores in the region, but probably did not feed on exactly the same plants. It is not possible to determine with certainty which plants were on their menu. Legumes or heaths may have played a role, as they could help explain the particularly low nitrogen values.

The researchers also found no evidence of regular meat or fish consumption. This is remarkable because the sites were relatively close to coasts and river systems. In principle, the Atlas bears would therefore have had access to fish or other animal resources. However, their isotopic values suggest that they made little or no use of them.

This specialisation may have helped them persist in an ecosystem with large carnivores. At the time, North Africa was home to leopards, hyena relatives, jackals and other predators. By occupying a strongly plant-based niche, Atlas bears probably avoided direct competition for food with these species. The Atlas bear was therefore not a typical omnivore like many modern brown bears, but a herbivorous form within the brown bear lineage.

Similar shifts are also known from other prehistoric bear communities. In North America, isotope analyses show a clear separation between the highly carnivorous giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) and brown bears, whose diets were much more variable and ranged from omnivory to plant-based feeding. After the extinction of the short-faced bear, the nitrogen values of North American brown bears changed—probably because available resources and ecological niches shifted. Comparisons with the more herbivorous cave bears in Europe also show how flexibly brown bears could respond to the disappearance of other large bear species.

The Atlas bear fits into this pattern: in the North African ecosystem, it probably occupied a particularly low, strongly plant-based trophic niche. Its diet therefore shows not only an unusual specialisation, but also the remarkable ecological adaptability of brown bears.

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