The range of this bear has been found to encompass both Europe and Asia, demonstrating the ability of the species to adapt to many Pleistocene environments.[citation needed]
Ursus deningeri has a combination of primitive and derived characters that distinguishes it from all other Pleistocene bears. Its
mandible is slender like that of living
brown bears and Ursus etruscus. It also has derived characters of cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) and is considered to be the descendant of Ursus savini and very close to the common ancestor of brown bears.[3]
In 2013, a German team reconstructed the
mitochondrial genome of an Ursus deningeri more than 300,000 years old, proving that authentic
ancient DNA can be preserved for hundreds of thousand years outside of
permafrost.[7]
^García, N., & Arsuaga, J. L. (2001). Les carnivores (Mammalia) des sites du Pléistocène ancien et moyen d'Atapuerca (Espagne). L'anthropologie, 105(1), 83–93.