Human hunting played a decisive role in the extinction of large mammals
For decades, the question has loomed large: what caused the extinction of numerous species of large mammals, birds, and reptiles over the past 50,000 years? Defined as animals weighing at least 45 kilograms or megafauna, a minimum of 151 mammal species vanished during this period, based on the discovered remains.
The megaherbivores – land-dwelling herbivores weighing over a ton – suffered the most significant blows. Fifty thousand years ago, 57 species of megaherbivores existed, and today only 11 remain. The surviving 11 species have also experienced severe population declines, although not to the point of complete extinction.
A research team from the Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Ecological Dynamics (ECONOVO) at Aarhus University has now reached the conclusion that human hunting led to the extinction of many of these vanished species.
During the late Pleistocene period, spanning from 130,000 to 11,000 years ago, significant changes in climate had a profound impact on the global distribution of both large and small animals as well as plants. It is noteworthy that while these dramatic climate shifts led to the extinction of numerous large animals, particularly the largest ones, smaller animals and plants were not as significantly affected.
