Bearskin or wolfskin?

[Gaius]

The current geographic distribution of leopards includes isolated populations in Africa and Asia, with no genetic interchange between Asian and African leopards, but in Roman times this distribution were likely almost continuous (sure in Alexander epoch), so maybe Persian leopards were traded into roman territory. It is probable than in Alexander times there were big cats, including lions, very near to Europe, in the Near East, Turkey, etc. The demise of the genus Panthera in Europe is very, very, recent; what we today envision as "African" faunas are the populational remains of animals that once were part of European faunas until very recent times.

American Black Bear can be white, black and several shades of brown; as i noted before, European Brown bear is also variable not only in fur color, but also in size.

Valete