So the downfall of the cave bear may have been triggered by competition with human for caves.

BBC: Early human 'squatters' drove cave bears to extinction

The cave bear is a close relative of the modern brown bear.

BBC: Early human 'squatters' drove cave bears to extinction

Since then he has amassed a collection to decorate his office that includes raptor and T-rex claws, crabs and a cave bear skull.

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Radiocarbon dating found the skull was from the peak of the last Ice Age ruling out it was a cave bear, or a brown bear.

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Although researchers could find no link between the crash in cave bear populations and other factors, the event did "coincide with the start of human expansion, " commented co-author Dr Aurora Grandal-D'Anglade of the University of Coruna, Spain.

BBC: Early human 'squatters' drove cave bears to extinction