What may be the oldest known remains of a polar bear have been uncovered on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic.

The jawbone was pulled from sediments that suggest the specimen is perhaps 110,000 or 130,000 years old.

Professor Olafur Ingolfsson from the University of Iceland says tests show it was an adult, possibly a female.

The find is a surprise because polar bears are a relatively new species, with one study claiming they evolved less than 100,000 years ago.

If the Svalbard jawbone's status is confirmed, and further discoveries can show the iconic Arctic beasts have a deeper evolutionary heritage, then the outlook for the animals may be more positive than some believe.

Age 'confidence'

"We have this specimen that confirms the polar bear was a morphologically distinct species at least 100,000 years ago, and this basically means that the polar bear has already survived one interglacial period," explained Professor Ingolfsson.

POLAR BEAR (URSUS MARITIMUS)

Largest of five living bear species of Ursus genus
Brown bear (U. arctos) is nearest evolutionary cousin
Two species able to produce fertile hybrid offspring
Highly specialised predator of seals - but will take other prey
Global population of polar bears may number 20-25,000
Most recent IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable
Previous oldest recovered remains are about 70,000 years old
"And what's interesting about that is that the Eeemian - the last interglacial - was much warmer than the Holocene (the present).

"This is telling us that despite the ongoing warming in the Arctic today, maybe we don't have to be quite so worried about the polar bear. That would be very encouraging."

The jawbone's discovery is being presented here in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting.

The specimen was found at Poolepynten on Prins Karls Forland, a narrow strip of land on the far west of the archipelago.

The sediments there are well-described, and record at least two glaciations sandwiched with marine sequences. In other words, they record periods when Poolepynten was alternately covered by ice and water
more

That's pretty cool!