Mosjk Bear

Status: Extinct

The Mosjk bear (Mosjk or literally bear in Viardrmen language) is an extinct subspecies of North American black bear which was once endemic on the now sunken Georges Bank. Small, stocky, and bizarrely coated, the Mosjk bear did not develop these traits as an adaptation to its new island environment, but instead due to a extreme founder effect.

Tamed from infancy, the native Hopflings of the Georges Bank commonly kept Mosjk bears commonly as pets or companions. This would require Hopfling hunters to capture a pregnant or nursing Mosjk bear. Once the cubs were old enough, to be separated from the mother, the mother was butchered and consumed in a feast while her cubs were tamed. There is some evidence that Hopflings would also breed Mosjk bears as evidenced by oral traditions carried by their Viardrmen descendants. Some stories focus on the common desire to breed Mosjk with long, soft, warm fur for the owners to keep themselves warm at night with their companion by their side. 

This cultural custom would continue until the arrival of the Norse in the 11th century, and the near wholesale disruption and eradication of the Hopfling culture. As indigenous villages were raided and slaves were taken, their pets were either slaughtered or unceremoniously left behind on a sinking archipelago. As the Georges Bank became increasingly depopulated, the semi-domesticated Mosjk were likely forced to return to a feral existence. However, this would not save them from the rising sea levels. By the 14th century, the Georges Bank was completely submerged, and with it the last vestiges of the Mosjk Bear.