MacFarlane's Bear

[Friday The 13th]

MacFarlane's Bear is a proposed extinct species of bear that was found in Canada's Northwest Territories. In 1864, naturalist Robert MacFarlane acquired an "enormous" yellow-furred bear skin from the Inuit, as well as the bear's skull. MacFarlane shipped the remains to the Smithsonian Institution where they were placed in storage and soon forgotten. Eventually, Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam uncovered the remains, which he recognized as a new species, Ursus inopinatus. In 1918, he described the specimen as a new species and genus, Vetularctos inopinatus, calling it the "patriarchal bear."

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