Study blames humans for megafauna extinction

Aug 13, 2015 18:37 GMT  ·  By

Between 80,000 and 10,000 years ago, woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant armadillos, saber-toothed tigers and many other species of massive mammals all went extinct. 

Why it was that this came to happen is a question researchers are yet to answer. Still, scientists at the University of Exeter and their colleagues at the University of Cambridge believe to have solved the puzzle.

In a new study published in the journal Ecography, they argue that we are the ones to blame for the demise of these creatures. Well, not us per se, but our ancestors from millennia back.

No other explanation makes sense  

To get to the bottom of this mystery and determine what killed the planet's megafauna thousands of years ago, the scientists examined scenarios mapping what was happening around the world at the time when the ancient beasts went extinct.

The variables the researchers took into consideration were the exact period that one species or another disappeared, when our species arrived on different continents and shifts in Earth's climate over the past 90,000 years.

They found that, although it might be that climate change also had a say in the matter, megafauna extinctions mostly happened when our ancestors found their way to new lands and set up camp there.

This indicates that, changes in ancient climate aside, humans must have been the ones to drive species like the woolly mammoth, the saber-toothed tiger, and other large mammals to extinction.

“As far as we are concerned, this research is the nail in the coffin of this 50-year debate - humans were the dominant cause of the extinction of megafauna. It debunks the myth of early humans living in harmony with nature,” says researcher Lewis Bartlett.

Some questions still need answering

The University of Cambridge and University of Exeter team might have figured out why our planet's megafauna went extinct about 80,000 to 10,000 years ago, but some pieces of the puzzle are still missing.

Thus, it is unclear whether our ancestors actively hunted these lost species for food or if maybe they pushed them to extinction by driving them out of their habitats. “Were they killing them for food, was it early use of fire or were they driven out of their habitats?” Lewis Bartlett cannot help but wonder.

Earth's megafauna went extinct millennia ago (4 Images)

Woolly mammoth
Giant armadilloWoolly rhino
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