[2] Kretzoiarctos beatrix are panda-like creatures and are an ancestral group of the Ailuropodinae subfamily according to fossil records from the middle Miocene of Spain.

[3][1] Based on tooth structure, researchers have speculated that this species may have been a small herbivorous animal that ate very hard plants.

[2] These traits indicate a need for pronounced chewing and grinding, and suggest that these enhanced molars and premolars were evolved to more efficiently break down hard plant tissues.

In the early Turolian, high precipitation and humid environments in Western Europe favored smaller plant-feeding animals like the Kretzoiarctos species.

A crucial event in this period is the Messinian salinity crisis, a huge decrease in the Mediterranean Sea level due to evaporation and desiccation.