OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Black bear — Ursus americanus

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Date / Period

Quaternary — exact display specimen age unresolved · The exact age and provenance of this composite Deep Time display have not yet been tied to a verified specimen-level catalog record.

Object Type

composite

Medium

representative_scientific_visual

About This Object

Geologic period: Quaternary — exact display specimen age unresolved

Age: The exact age and provenance of this composite Deep Time display have not yet been tied to a verified specimen-level catalog record.

Feeding: Omnivorous.

Evidence: Species identity is supplied by the Smithsonian exhibit list. Exact fossil age and locality remain unresolved for this particular display record.

Why it matters: The black bear provides another example of a lineage that crosses from the Ice Age fossil record into the living fauna of North America.

Plain Language Identity: The American black bear, a living species with a fossil history extending into the Quaternary.

What You Are Looking At: A composite representation of Ursus americanus.

Ecosystem: Quaternary North American terrestrial ecosystem.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list

Open Questions: Do not invent a Pleistocene locality or precise date until the Deep Time display is linked to its catalog number.

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; chronology and taxonomy conflicts retained rather than silently corrected; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Ursus americanus

Evidence / representation: Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

Representative evidence-type visual; not the exact specimen.

After the Dinosaurs: Mammals, Ice Ages and the World We Inherited.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: A Giant Deer and a Bison Mummy

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Subjects & Themes

Ursus americanus Quaternary — exact display specimen age unresolved composite A Giant Deer and a Bison Mummy After the Dinosaurs

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.