What is Arctodus?
{{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Arctodus'' | fossil_range = [[Pleistocene]] {{fossil range|2.5|0.0128}} | image = ArctodusSimusSkeleton.jpg | image_caption = ''A. simus'' from the [[La Brea tar pits]] | taxon = Arctodus | authority = [[Joseph Leidy|Leidy]], 1854 | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Arctodus pristinus''''' | type_species_authority = Leidy, 1854 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *{{extinct}}''A. pristinus'' <small>(Leidy, 1854)</small> *{{extinct}}''A. simus'' <small>(Cope, 1879)</small> | range_map = Short Faced Bear Range.png | range_map_caption = Maximum range of ''Arctodus simus''. }} '''''Arctodus''''' is an [[Extinction|extinct]] [[genus]] of [[Tremarctinae|short-faced]] [[bear]] [[endemic]] to [[North America]] during the [[Pleistocene]] era about 2.5 million years ago to 12,800 years ago. There were two species, ''Arctodus pristinus'' and ''Arctodus simus''. The giant short-faced bear, ''Arctodus simus'', evolved from ''Arctodus pristinus'' during the middle Pleistocene of [[North America]], around 1.3 million years ago. Both species were [[Omnivore|omnivorous]], feeding on tall vegetation and large mammals. ''Arctodus simus'' might have been the largest [[Predation|predatory]] land mammal that ever lived in North America. == Habitat == Both species of ''Arctodus'' lived in different habitats, with ''Arctodus pristinus'' preferred dense forests in eastern North America,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Russell|first1=Dale A.|last2=Rich|first2=Fredrick J.|last3=Schneider|first3=Vincent|last4=Lynch-Stieglitz|first4=Jean|date=May 2009|title=A warm thermal enclave in the Late Pleistocene of the South-eastern United States|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00069.x|journal=Biological Reviews|language=en|volume=84|issue=2|pages=173–202|doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00069.x|pmid=19391200 |issn=1464-7931}}</ref> and ''Arctodus simus'' inhabiting [[Woodland|open forests]] in western North America. However, after the extinction of ''Arctodus pristinus'', the giant short