English: Life restoration of the Early Miocene bear Ballusiass. This restoration are mostly based on 820846, a fossil specimen consisting of a crushed skull, vertebral column, tail and limb bones: it was first described in 1985 as a species of the of the "dawn bear" genus Ursavus, named "Ursavus orientalis",^[1] but subsequent studies have placed it into Ballusia, a more recently erected genus which is more basal than Ursavus to modern bears.^[2][3]

Ballusiass were about the size of a domestic cat, with body proportions similar to a modern wolverine (Gulo gulo). It was more slender built than modern bears, and might have been insectivorous/omnivorous.^[4] The colour pattern used here is a guess, mostly inspired by modern small carnivores such as wolverine (Gulo gulo), european badger (Meles meles), pine marten (Martes martes) and red panda (Ailurus fulgens).

References

1. ↑ Qui >, Yan D, Hang J & Wang B (1985). "Dentition of the Ursavus skeleton from Shanwang, Shandong Province". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 23: p. 264-275
2. ↑ Ginsburg L & Morales G (1998). "Hemicyoninae (Ursidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) and the related taxa from Early and Middle Miocene of Western Europe". Annales de Paléontologie 84(1): p. 71-123. doi.org/10.1016/S0753-3969(98)80003-7
3. ↑ Baryshnikov G.F. & Lavrov A.V. (2015). "Early Miocene bear Ballusia (Carnivora, Ursidae) from the locality Khirgis-Nur-I in Mongolia". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 319(3): p. 341–350
4. ↑ Jiangzuo Q & Flynn J.H. (2020). "The Earliest Ursine Bear Demonstrates the Origin of Plant-Dominated Omnivory in Carnivora". IScience 23(6): doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101235