Tracing the footprints of the Atlas Brown Bear: a metric analysis of Holocene and Late Pleistocene remains from Northern Morocco

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Iken, Shaymae, García-Vázquez, Ana, González-Fortes, Gloria, Bouzouggar, Abdeljalil, Grandal-D’Anglade, Aurora (2026): Tracing the footprints of the Atlas Brown Bear: a metric analysis of Holocene and Late Pleistocene remains from Northern Morocco. Comptes Rendus Palevol 25 (4): 57-76, DOI: 10.5852/cr-palevol2026v25a4, URL: doi.org/10.5852/cr-palevol2026v25a4 ABSTRACT The brown bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) once inhabited the Atlas Mountains in North Africa.

Based on a traveler’s description, H. Schinz, 19th-century naturalists described a new species, Ursus crowtheri Schinz, 1844, whose existence was soon questioned. This study presents a metric characterization of the fossil Atlas brown bear using both published and new data from Moroccan archaeological sites. The analysis focuses on phalanges and metapodials, which are more frequently preserved, and compares them with Holocene specimens from the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain) and the Zagros Mountains (Iran).