[1][2] Cave bear skeletons were first described in 1774 by Johann Friedrich Esper, in his book Newly Discovered Zoolites of Unknown Four Footed Animals.

Twenty years later, Johann Christian Rosenmüller, an anatomist at Leipzig University, gave the species its binomial name.

The last remaining premolar became conjugated with the true molars, enlarging the crown and granting it more cusps and cutting borders.

Cave bears grew larger during glaciations and smaller during interglacials, probably to adjust heat loss rate.

[8] Results obtained on the stable isotopes of cave bear bones also point to a largely vegetarian diet in having low levels of nitrogen-15 and carbon-13, which are accumulated at a faster rate by carnivores as opposed to herbivores.

[29] Additionally, cave bear remains from Peștera cu Oase in the southwestern tip of the Romanian part of the Carpathian Mountains had elevated levels of nitrogen-15 in their bones, indicative of omnivorous diets,[25][30][31] although the values are within the range of those found for the strictly herbivorous mammoth.

[35] Death during hibernation was a common end for cave bears, mainly befalling specimens that failed ecologically during the summer season through inexperience, sickness or old age.

[37] Male cave bear skeletons have been found with broken bacula, probably due to fighting during the breeding season.

[50] No traces of cave bears have been found in the northern British Isles, Scandinavia or the Baltic countries, which were all covered in extensive glaciers at the time.

[51] In Archaeology, Religion, Ritual (2004), archaeologist Timothy Insoll strongly questions whether the Drachenloch finds in the stone cist were the result of human interaction.

Insoll states that the evidence for religious practices involving cave bears in this time period is "far from convincing".

The remains of a Neanderthal lay nearby in another stone pit, with various objects, including a bear humerus, a scraper, a core, and some flakes, which were interpreted as grave offerings.

It is thought to have been used by Neanderthals for a ceremony; bear bones scattered on the floor further suggests it was likely to have had some sort of ritual purpose.

[55] Compared with other megafaunal species that also became extinct during the Last Glacial Maximum, the cave bear was believed to have had a more specialized diet of high-quality plants and a relatively restricted geographical range.

[34] Some experts have disputed this claim, as the cave bear had survived multiple climate changes prior to extinction.

Additionally, mitochondrial DNA research indicated that the genetic decline of the cave bear began long before it became extinct, demonstrating habitat loss due to climate change was not responsible.

[55] Finally, high δ15N levels were found in cave bear bones from Romania, indicating wider dietary possibilities than previously believed.

According to the research study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, radiocarbon dating of the fossil remains shows that the cave bear ceased to be abundant in Central Europe around 35,000 years ago.

[57] In 2019, the results of a large scale study of 81 bone specimens (resulting in 59 new sequences) and 64 previously published complete mitochondrial genomes of cave bear mitochondrial DNA remains found in Switzerland, Poland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Serbia, indicated that the cave bear population drastically declined starting around 40,000 years ago at the onset of the Aurignacian, coinciding with the arrival of anatomically modern humans.

[58][59] It was concluded that human hunting and/or competition played a major role in their decline and ultimate disappearance, and that climate change was not likely to have been the dominant factor.

Paleontologist Björn Kurtén hypothesized cave bear populations were fragmented and under stress even before the advent of the glaciers.