Legal Commentary

Monday Cave Bear Blogging

By Ilya Somin

New scientific studies suggest that the extinction of cave bears was caused by humans rather than climate change, as previously thought [HT: Instapundit]:

The cave bear started to become extinct in Europe 24,000 years ago, but until now the cause was unknown. An international team of scientists has analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences from 17 new fossil samples, and compared these with the modern brown bear. The results show that the decline of the cave bear started 50,000 years ago, and was caused more by human expansion than by climate change.

?The decline in the genetic diversity of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) began around 50,000 years ago, much earlier than previously suggested, at a time when no major climate change was taking place, but which does coincide with the start of human expansion?, Aurora Grandal-D?Anglade, co-author of the study and a researcher at the University Institute of Geology of the University of Coruña, tells SINC.

According to the research study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, radiocarbon dating of the fossil remains shows that the cave bear ceased to be abundant in Central Europe around 35,000 years ago.

?This can be attributed to increasing human expansion and the resulting competition between humans and bears for land and shelter?, explains the scientist, who links this with the scarce fossil representation of the bear?s prey in the abundant fossil record of this species.

However, the learned scientists apparently overlooked an important alternative possibility. The new timeframe for the extinction of the cave bears falls in the same period when, according to other recent scientific findings, prehistoric hobbits ?travelled half a world? (no doubt on their quest to destroy the Ring of Power). Perhaps the cave bears were minions of Morgoth and Sauron who ? like the orcs and (non-internet) trolls ? could not survive once the Ring was destroyed. More research is clearly needed. 

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on August 30, 2010 (boomark / email).