Researchers Unveil 3D Replica of Ice Age Bear Skull Found in Quintana Roo Cave

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A 3D-printed replica of an Ice Age bear skull has joined the outreach materials of Cenotes Urbanos A.C., the Quintana Roo cave research and education group.

Biologist Roberto Rojo, a member of the research team, said the original skull remains in the cave where the skeleton was discovered. The reproduction allows the group to show audiences the specimen’s features without pulling the fossil from its resting place.

Rojo said the replica will help explain the kinds of animals that roamed what is now Quintana Roo 20,000 years ago or more. He listed saber-toothed cats, giant sloths and large armadillos among the creatures of that era, though he did not give a specific date for the bear.

The piece is intended as a teaching aid that can bring the subject to people of different ages during the organization’s activities.

Rojo also stressed that the discoveries highlight the need to protect the state’s cenotes and caverns. Those flooded caves and underground chambers hold the remains of animals and humans who lived in the region thousands of years before the rise of the Maya civilization, he said.

The replica will travel with the Cenotes Urbanos team for presentations both inside and outside Quintana Roo. The group says the model makes it easier to share the region’s distant past and to explain why safeguarding underground environments matters for research.