Earliest bear

The earliest bears were a group of species belonging to the extinct genus Parictis, the earliest of which existed in North America approximately 38 million years ago, during the late Eocene epoch. Although they belonged to the modern bear family, Ursidae, they possessed a number of dog-like features (bears originated as an offshoot of the dog family, Canidae), and were only quite small in size, too, with skulls measuring less than 8 cm long. Some members of this genus gradually migrated out of North America, populating Eurasia during the Miocene epoch. At least seven different species are recognized, but they are all long extinct. Bears belong to a suborder of mammalian carnivores known as caniforms, which means that their closest relatives, the other modern-day caniform members, are dogs, raccoons (procyonids), the lesser panda, weasels, skunks, seals, sea lions and walruses.