cave bear

Noun

cave bear (plural cave bears)

1. A large extinct species of bear, †Ursus spelaeus.
   • The more striking phenomena first and most strongly impress the mind, which contrasts for example, the great Cave-Bears of Europe with the actual Brown Bear, the Megatheriods of South America with the small existing sloths, and the gigantic Glyptodons with the Armadillos.1851 June 11, The Geelong Advertiser, Victoria, page 1, column 2
   • It begs the question: why did the Neanderthals “fail,” since the cave-dwelling hominin, like the cave bear, faltered during the last glaciation, not afterward?2012, Lydia Pyne, Stephen J. Pyne, chapter 7, in The Last Lost World, Penguin, →ISBN