Argentine workers find fossil head of 700,000-year-old giant bear

March 18 (UPI) -- Argentine scientists are studying the well-preserved fossil of the head of a giant bear that lived 700,000 years ago, which turned up at a quarry in Argentina.

The fossilized bear head indicates the animal was 13 feet tall on two feet, weighed some 1,760 pounds and had tusks, according to preliminary research. More studies will focus on its brain and hearing functions, El Pais reported Sunday.

Leopoldo Soibelzon, investigator at Argentina's Museo de La Plata, said the finding of a well-preserved head of an Arctotherium Angustidens will allow tomographies to learn if the bear species had a good sense of smell, sight and equilibrium to climb trees, El Pais reported.

The bear fossils were found about 27 feet deep at the quarry in an area experts say was probably a swamp in prehistoric times, where large animals often became trapped in mud. The quarry is located in what's now the greater province of Buenos Aires, about 100 miles from Argentina's capital, a report by La Matanza National University said last week.

About a dozen species of prehistoric animals have been found in the area, the El Pais report said.

Besides the cranium -- which preserved all teeth -- parts of the animal's pelvis and other bones were also found, according to report by ctys.com.ar, which as a video of the finding.

The bear species was identified years ago through other fossilized findings near the region in Argentina, but this is the first preserved head of the animal to be found.