Giant Short-Faced Bear

This is a 3D scan of the skull and mandible of a Giant Short-Faced Bear (Arctodus simus), the largest land predator in North America during the late Pleistocene. It could stand as tall as 12 feet when reared up onto its hind legs, and some believe that with its long legs and forward pointing feet (most modern bears are a bit pigeon-toed) that it could run up to 40mph. With it's short but large snout, it is sometimes called the pug bear, but just imagine a bear that is at eye level with you when on all fours smelling you from a mile away and then running 40mph to come eat you and it doesn't sound so cute any more. You don't have to worry though, because these bears, the largest that ever lived, went extinct around 10,000 years ago near the end of the last ice age.

I printed the cranium upside down, and the mandible in pieces, cut side on the print bed. There are pegs included to help you put the pieces of the mandible together. You may have to adjust their size by a couple percent to get them to fit correctly. After assembling the parts I painted them with white paint-and-primer and then used various wood stains to achieve the desired effect.