Of bears and men

The silhouette of a mysterious figure is outlined on the rocky walls of Chauvet cave in France – the likeness of a mighty creature drawn on rock by the expert hand of Palaeolithic hunters. It is Ursus spelaeus, the cave bear, a massive plantigrade that lived in south-central Europe and the Ural Mountains between 60,000 and 25,000 years ago, alongside prehistoric humans.