So, let's reference some well known bear mythology, shall we?

While I'm grouching - this must be one of only a small handful of bestiary entries that suggests someone actually looked at the animal in question. I mean; ok, it's not LITERALLY true, but the bear cub is all round and covered in goo, and the mama bear licks it a lot.

Compare to the cuckoo (same author): Cuckoos arrive at a fixed time, riding in the shoulders of kites, because their flight is short and weak; in this way they do not grow tired in the long spaces of the air. Their saliva generates grasshoppers.

Or the panther (same author), which seems to be confused with the leopard: The panther (pantera) takes its name from the Greek word for "all" (pan), because the panther is the friend of all beasts other than the dragon. They are covered with black and white circles that look like eyes.

Other authors have panthers being multicoloured!

... you know, I should turn a bestiary into a set of cards :)

And this one is a different author (Isidore actually says "Some people believe this, but it is false"):

The weasel is a dirty animal that must not be eaten. It conceives at the mouth and gives birth through the ear (though some say it is the other way around). If the birth takes place through the right ear, the offspring will be male; if it is through the left ear, a female will be born. There are two types of weasel; one lives in the woods and the other in houses.

Holy carp! I have no idea which boggles my mind more, that I have no idea of what you're talking about, or that I never thought to research ancient bestiaries before. Bookmarking many, many Wikipedia entries as we speak. Thank you kindly. I'm quite sure a few of these will end up as monsters on my website to dovetail with the 5th edition release of Dungeons and Dragons.

He who does not play Ars Magica is doomed to learn of Mythic Europe at a later date? :)