How to make a bear resistant to Medieval weaponry?

In my story there will be animals that are incredibly strong and resistant to injury. To better understand how to design my creatures, I'm asking for help understanding how to make the Eurasian Brown Bear (common in Europe during the 1200's) more resistant to medieval weaponry.

• No magical answers.
• Technology from the year 1200.
• Changes to the bear should be evolutionarily defensible. (Read that as "it makes sense that such a fictional creature could evolve naturally based on the actual evolution of creatures on Earth.")
• A single shot from any bow/crossbow of the period should not be capable of killing the bear.
• This question considers the bear's defense, not the bear's offense (I may ask that as a separate question). In other words, while the need to dodge longer claws might make the bear harder to kill, that technically isn't a defense against the weapons of the time, and therefore doesn't answer my question. (So say we all...)

Question: Given these conditions, what changes to the Eurasian brown bear would make the animal substantialy more difficult to kill?

Best answer conditions:

• The best answer will look beyond the ordinary or obvious (e.g., "thicker skin") to consider the bear's entire physiology.

• The best answer will consider unique examples of actual evolution as enhancements (e.g., a rhinoceros' horn) but must justify how those enhancements would improve the bear's defense against early medieval weapons.

• The animal described by the best answer will still be perceptually a bear. (shaggy, walks on all fours, likes salmon). In other words, if the creature were drawn, a child might say, "that kinda looks like a bear...." (This is intended to avoid answers that could be interpreted as, "don't use a bear, use a rhinoceros.")

posted over 6 years ago

P.Lord‭

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