In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classified the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) -- a regional black bear variety endemic to the Mississippi River floodplain -- as "threatened."

More than two decades later, FWS is considering delisting the bear, and a new study by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey suggests the agency would be well within reason to do so. Over the last 20-plus years, the bear's population has rebounded, the USGS report confirms.

USGS scientists calculate the Louisiana black bear, one of 18 subspecies of black bear in North America, has less than a one percent chance of becoming extinct during the next century.

Once common throughout the Southeast, ranging from Louisiana to East Texas, from southern Arkansas to western Mississippi, the bear's numbers had dwindled by the early 1900s due to habitat fragmentation and overhunting. But new research suggests conservation efforts are working and the bear has regained a foothold in the forests of the Deep South.

"Estimates of a species' viability can help wildlife managers determine the status of threatened, endangered or at-risk species and guide effective management efforts," Joseph Clark, USGS ecologist, said in a recent press release. "This study will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether to pursue removing the bear from the 'threatened' species list."

Clark led the recent study into the progress of the Louisiana black bear. His effort was aided by researcher Jared Laufenberg from the University of Tennessee, as well as scientists from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

As part of the study, researchers placed pastry baits guarded by barbed wire fences throughout the region's bear habitat. When the bears go after the pastries, they end up leaving DNA samples in the form of hair on the wires. The technique does not hurt the bears, scientists say. The DNA samples allow biologists to total a bear count and gauge the health of the subspecies' population.

"The completion of this project represents many years of collaborative work and we're excited about the results," said state biologist program manager Maria Davidson. "The information provided by this project is based on the best available science, enabling us to make management decisions focused on the long term sustainability of the Louisiana black bear."

Researchers reveal ancient relative of horses and rhinos
Baltimore (UPI) Nov 21, 2014 - Some 55 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent was still a floating island, making its way to a dramatic tectonic collision with Asia. About the time, scientists say, an animal dubbed Cambaytherium thewissi emerged. According to a new study, Cambaytherium is an ancient cousin of horses, rhinos and tapirs -- a group (or order) of modern animals known as Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates.

Researchers have been able to trace the ancestors of modern horses, rhinos and tapirs as far back as the beginnings of the Eocene epoch, about 56 million years ago, but the story of the evolution of early odd-toed ungulates remained muddled. Now, researchers newfound understanding of Cambaytherium has shed some light on the group's emergence.

The emergence Cambaytherium is largely thanks to a single coal mine in India, just north of Mumbai. For the last decade, researchers there have been excavating hundreds of ancient fossils. Since 2001, the dig site has yielded more than 200 Cambaytherium bones.

"Many of Cambaytherium's features, like the teeth, the number of sacral vertebrae, and the bones of the hands and feet, are intermediate between Perissodactyla and more primitive animals," Ken Rose, a professor of functional anatomy and evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained in a press release. "This is the closest thing we've found to a common ancestor of the Perissodactyla order."

Ken's collaborative work with researchers in India was detailed this week in the online journal Nature Communications.

The new Cambaytherium analysis lends credence to long-standing theories that a variety of animals -- including ungulates, rodents, primates and others -- evolved isolated on a floating India.

"Around Cambaytherium's time, we think India was an island, but it also had primates and a rodent similar to those living in Europe at the time," Rose said. "One possible explanation is that India passed close by the Arabian Peninsula or the Horn of Africa, and there was a land bridge that allowed the animals to migrate. But Cambaytherium is unique and suggests that India was indeed isolated for a while."