Arctotherium

Real Life Information
==== Arctotherium ("bear beast") is an extinct genus of Pleistocene South American short-faced bears within Ursidae. Their ancestors migrated from North America to South America during the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. The oldest confirmed remains are those of A. angustidens from Buenos Aires, Argentina, dating to the Ensenadan epoch, 0.98 to 1.76 Ma old, within the Early to Middle Pleistocene, with a tooth possibly belonging to Arctotherium dating about 2.588 Mya. They are closer genetically to the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), than to Arctodus of North America, implying the two extinct forms evolved large size in a convergent manner, perhaps to facilitate dominating other carnivores in the competition for the biggest carcasses. The northernmost species, A. wingei, known from Venezuela in South America, apparently invaded Central America and reached as far north as the Yucatán. ====