Bears in Ireland

A subspecies of the extant brown bear (Ursus arctos) evolved in, and was thus native to, ancient Ireland.

Additionally, as modern bears do, the Irish brown bear would more than likely vary its broad diet throughout the year, hunting everything from ground-nesting birds and their eggs, rodents, lagomorphs and other small mammals to larger game such as red deer and wild boar, among other ungulates.

Atlantic salmon was also a likely favourite, during the fishes' spawning season, in addition to a myriad of other marine and freshwater species; for bears living close to the ocean, it is also possible that they scavenged on stranded or washed-up cetacean remains, as modern polar bears have been documented doing.

Bears in Ireland often slept through the cold winter in caves, hollows, burrows or sheltered cliffsides, and several are known to have died during hibernation, with their bones being found by modern archaeologists.

[8] The Irish bear is believed to have died out circa 1000–500 BC, due to habitat loss and hunting.

[18] The surname O'Hart also derives from Ua hAirt, "descendant of Art"; they were based around the Hill of Tara before losing their land in the Norman invasion and resettling in County Sligo.