Ursa Minor The tradition of naming the northern constellations "bears" appears to be genuinely Greek, although Homer refers to just a single "bear". The original "bear" is thus Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor was admitted as second, or "Phoenician Bear" (Ursa Phoenicia, hence Φοινίκη, Phoenice) only later, according to Strabo (I.1.6, C3) due to a suggestion by Thales, who suggested it as a navigation aid to the Greeks, who had been navigating by Ursa Major. In classical antiquity, the celestial pole was somewhat closer to Beta Ursae Minoris than to Alpha Ursae Minoris, and the entire constellation was taken to indicate the
Ursa Minor (cave) of "National Geographic" magazine and has attracted many scientists and researchers interested in finding new species of troglobites, organisms that live in the complete darkness afforded by caves. Similar caves such as the Kaweah Cave and Lost Soldiers Cave have yielded over twenty new species of these exotic and rare species, which are sometimes limited to only a single pool of water or room of a cave. Access to this sensitive cave is currently limited to scientific and survey trips. Ursa Minor (cave) Ursa Minor Cave is part of Sequoia National Park, a naturally formed system of caves in California's