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Prehistoric Life

How tall was a cave bear?

An adult cave bear stood about 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) at the shoulder.

What is measured: adult, shoulder height

Cave bear (1.3 m) drawn to scale beside a bowling pin (38.1 cm) and an adult person (1.7 m)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Bowling pin (38.1 cm), Cave bear (1.3 m) and Adult person (1.7 m).

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How big is that, really?

  • A little shorter than an adult person
  • About 65% of the height of a doorway
  • About 3.4× as tall as a bowling pin
  • About 8.8× as tall as a smartphone
  • About 21% of the length of a 20-foot shipping container

Learn

Facts about Cave bear

Cave bears were largely herbivorous despite their imposing size and occupied caves across much of Ice Age Europe.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Cave bear; Natural History Museum — Cave bear

Prehistoric Life

NameSizeCompared with Cave bear
Smilodon1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)0.92×
Sinosauropteryx prima1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)0.92×
Heterodontosaurus tucki1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)0.92×
Smilodon fatalis1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)0.92×
Thylacosmilus atrox1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)0.92×
Compsognathus longipes1.25 m (4 ft 1 in)0.96×
Cave bear1.3 m (4 ft 3 in)this page
Paranthropus boisei1.4 m (4 ft 7 in)1.1×
Dimorphodon macronyx1.45 m (4 ft 9 in)1.1×
Pterodactylus antiquus1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)1.2×

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