On its long legs, it ranged great distances across the open steppes in search of food. We also know from fossils that it had broad nostrils and an acute sense of smell. But with its powful bone crunching jaws, it’s now believed the giant short-faced bear was primarily a specialist scavenger rather than a predator, feeding on the victoms of this unforgiving world. 

 

The short-faced bear was just one of the many extraordinary beasts that roamed the ice age steppes. Clues in the landscape and the wildlife of today have given us an insight into what a long-lost land was like. Now imagine that we can really travel back 14,000 years, and stand with those first hunters on the mesa, look out on that ice age world and experice a day in the life of Beringia. This is what it might have been like.

 

Beneath us, the steppes stretch away to the mountains. It’s early winter, and a time to feed up, ready for long, cold months ahead.  Bison, Saiga antolope and other grazers form the floods below the mesa.