Ice_age_fauna_of_northern_Spain_-_Mauricio_Antón

The

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...

period (from 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present) has seen the

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional ext ...

s of numerous predominantly

megafauna In terrestrial zoology, the megafauna (from Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and New Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") comprises the large or giant animals of an area, habitat, or geological period, extinct and/or extant. The most common thresho ...

l species, which have resulted in a collapse in faunal density and diversity and the extinction of key ecological strata across the globe. The most prominent event in the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch withi ...

is differentiated from previous Quaternary pulse extinctions by the widespread absence of

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire) or more or less. Bacteria allows for the cycling of nutrients such as car ...

to replace these extinct species, and the regime shift of previously established faunal relationships and habitats as a consequence. The earliest casualties were incurred at 130,000 BCE (the

start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air *Starting lineup in sports * Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *S ...

of the Late Pleistocene), in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

~ 60,000 years ago, in

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

~ 15,000 years ago, coinciding in time with the

early human migrations Early human migrations are the earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across continents. They are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the early expansions out of Africa by '' Homo erect ...

. However, the great majority of extinctions in

Afro-Eurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia, Eurafrasia or the Old World) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Its mainland is the largest and most popul ...

and the

occurred during the transition from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

to the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

epoch (13,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE). This extinction wave did not stop at the end of the Pleistocene, continuing, especially on isolated islands, in human-caused extinctions, although there is debate as to whether these should be considered separate events or parts of the same event. Among the main causes hypothesized by paleontologists are overkill by the widespread appearance of humans and natural

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. A notable modern human presence first appeared during the

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...

in Africa, and started to establish continuous, permanent populations in

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologic ...

from 100,000 BCE and 63,000 BCE respectively, and

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

from 22,000 BCE. A variant of the former possibility is the second-order predation hypothesis, which focuses more on the indirect damage caused by overcompetition with nonhuman predators. Recent studies have tended to favor the human-overkill theory.

Extinctions by biogeographic realm

Summary

Introduction

The Late Pleistocene saw the extinction of many mammals weighing more than 40 kg. The proportion of megafauna extinctions is progressively larger the further the human migratory distance from Africa, with the highest extinction rates in Australia, and North and South America. Extinctions in the

eliminated all mammals larger than 100 kg of South American origin, including those which migrated north in the

Great American Interchange The Great American Biotic Interchange (commonly abbreviated as GABI), also known as the Great American Interchange and the Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which lan ...

. It was only in Australia and the Americas that extinction occurred at family taxonomic levels or higher. This may relate to non-African

and ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture ...

'' not having evolved as species alongside each other. These continents had no known native species of

Hominoidea Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

(apes) at all, so no species of

Hominidae The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...

(greater apes) or ''

Homo ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely rela ...

''. The increased extent of extinction mirrors the migration pattern of modern humans: the further away from Africa, the more recently humans inhabited the area, the less time those environments (including its megafauna) had to become accustomed to humans (and vice versa). There is no evidence of megafaunal extinctions at the height of the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...

, suggesting that increased cold and glaciation were not factors in the Pleistocene extinction. There are three main hypotheses to explain this extinction: *

associated with the advance and retreat of major

ice caps In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...

or ice sheets. * "prehistoric overkill hypothesis" * the extinction of the woolly mammoth allowed the extensive grassland to become birch forest, then subsequent forest fires changed the climate. There are some inconsistencies between the current available data and the prehistoric overkill hypothesis. For instance, there are ambiguities around the timing of sudden Australian megafauna extinctions. Evidence supporting the prehistoric overkill hypothesis includes the persistence of megafauna on some islands for millennia past the disappearance of their continental cousins. For instance, Ground sloths survived on the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

long after North and South American ground sloths were extinct, woolly mammoths died out on remote

Wrangel Island Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...

1,000 years after their extinction on the mainland, while

Steller's sea cow Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') is an extinct sirenian described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. At that time, it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range extended across ...

s persisted off the isolated and uninhabited Commander Islands for thousands of years after they had vanished from the continental shores of the north Pacific. The later disappearance of these island species correlates with the later colonization of these islands by humans. Alternative hypotheses to the theory of human responsibility include

associated with the last glacial period, and the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis as well as Tollmann's hypothesis that extinctions resulted from

bolide A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. It can be a ...

impacts. Recent research indicates that each species responded differently to environmental changes, and no one factor by itself explains the large variety of extinctions. The causes may involve the interplay of

, competition between species, unstable

population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has a ...

, and human predation.

Afrotropic and Indomalaya: Africa and southern Asia

The Afrotropic and Indomalaya

biogeographic realm A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. ...

s, or Old World tropics, were relatively spared by the Late Pleistocene extinctions.

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and southern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

are the only regions that have terrestrial mammals weighing over 1000 kg today. However, there are indications of megafaunal extinction events throughout the Pleistocene, particularly in Africa two million years ago, which coincide with key stages of human evolution and climatic trends. The center of human evolution and expansion, Africa and Asia were inhabited by advanced hominids by 2mya, with ''

Homo habilis ''Homo habilis'' ("handy man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...

'' in Africa, and ''Homo erectus'' on both continents. By the advent and proliferation of ''Homo sapiens'' circa 315,000 BCE, dominant species included '' Homo heidelbergensis'' in Africa, the denisovans and

neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...

s (fellow ''H. heidelbergensis'' descendants) in Eurasia, and ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor ...

'' in Eastern Asia. Ultimately, on both continents, these groups and other populations of Homo were subsumed by successive radiations of ''H. sapiens''. There is evidence of an early migration event 268,000 BCE and later within

neanderthal genetics Genetic studies on Neanderthal ancient DNA became possible in the late 1990s. The Neanderthal genome project, established in 2006, presented the first fully sequenced Neanderthal genome in 2013. Since 2005, evidence for substantial admixture of ...

, however the earliest dating for ''H. sapiens'' inhabitation is 118,000 BCE in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and 71,000 BCE in Indonesia. Additionally, not only have these early Asian migrations left a genetic mark on modern Papuan populations, the oldest known pottery in existence was found in China, dated to 18,000 BCE. Particularly during the late Pleistocene, megafaunal diversity was notably reduced from both these continents, often without being replaced by comparable successor fauna.

Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

has been explored as a prominent cause of extinctions in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. * Several

Bovidae The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, t ...

spp. ** Indian aurochs (''Bos'' ''primigenius'' ''namadicus'') (ancestor to the domestic zebu cattle) ** ''

Bos palaesondaicus ''Bos palaesondaicus'' occurred on Pleistocene Java (Indonesia) and belongs to the Bovinae subfamily. It has been described by the Dutch paleoanthropologist Eugène Dubois in 1908.Dubois, E. (1908). Das Geologische Alter der Kendengoder Trin ...

'' (ancestor to the

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

) ** '' Bison hanaizumiensis'' ** Cebu tamaraw (''Bubalus cebuensis'') ** ''

Bubalus grovesi ''Bubalus grovesi'' is an extinct species of water buffalo that lived in southern Sulawesi during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. ''B. grovesi'' was an extremely small buffalo species, estimated at only . It experienced a body size reduc ...

'' ** '' Bubalus wansijocki'' ** Short-horned water buffalo (''Bubalus mephistopheles'') ** Giant long-horned buffalo (''Pelorovis'') ** Giant hartebeest (''Megalotragus'') ** ''

Rusingoryx ''Rusingoryx'' is a genus of extinct alcelaphine bovid artiodactyl closely related to the wildebeest. It contains only one species, ''R. atopocranion'', that lived on the plains of Kenya during the Pleistocene. It was originally named as a spe ...

'' ** Various '' Gazella'' spp. * '' Sinomegaceros'' * '' Megaceroides algericus'' * '' Dorcabune'' * ''

Hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

'' spp. **

(''Hippopotamus amphibius''; extirpated in

western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes A ...

circa 1,000 BCE) ** All Malagasy hippopotamus spp. *** Malagasy dwarf hippopotamus *** Malagasy pygmy hippopotamus, *** '' Hippopotamus laloumena'' * '' Hexaprotodon'' * Wild ''Equus'' spp. ** ''

Equus capensis ''Equus capensis'' (''E. capensis''), the 'giant Cape zebra', is an extinct species of zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the ...

'' ** Saharan zebra (''Equus mauritanicus'') ** '' Equus namadicus'' **

Indian horse ''Indian Horse'' () is a novel by Canadian writer Richard Wagamese, published by Douglas & McIntyre in 2012."Indian Horse is a dark ride". ''Calgary Herald'', February 28, 2012. The novel centres on Saul Indian Horse, a First Nations boy from Ont ...

Yunnan horse The Yunnan horse (''Equus yunnanensis'') was an extinct horse that once roamed in Pleistocene East AsiaElewa, Ashraf M. T. (2008). Mass Extinction. Springer p. 172Colbert, EH. (1940)Pleistocene mammals from the Ma Kai valley of northern Yunnan, ...

* Several

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

(Rhinocerotidae) spp. ** '' Ceratotherium mauritanicum'' ** '' Rhinoceros philippinensis'' ** South Asian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sivalensis'') *

Giant tapir The giant tapir (''Tapirus augustus'') is an extinct species of tapir that lived in southern China, Vietnam and Laos, with reports suggesting it also lived in Taiwan, Java, and potentially Borneo. The species has been recorded from Middle and La ...

(''Tapirus augustus'') * Various

Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the dom ...

spp. ** Sri Lanka lion (''Panthera leo'' ''sinhaleyus'') **

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

(''Panthera pardus''; extirpated from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

) **

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...

(''Panthera tigris''; extirpated from

, Western and Central Asia,

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

and

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

) * '' Ailuropoda baconi'' (ancestor to the

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes u ...

) * Aardvark (''Orycteropus afer''; extirpated in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

circa 13,000 BCE) * '' Stegodon'' * Elephas spp. ** ''

Elephas hysudricus ''Elephas hysudricus'' is an extinct elephant species and was described from fossil remains found in the Siwalik hills. It lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the ...

'' ** Blora elephant (''Elephas hysudrindicus'') **

Asian Elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in t ...

(extirpated in

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

) * ''

Palaeoloxodon ''Palaeoloxodon'' is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Pliocene era, and expanded into Eurasia during the Pleistocene era. The genus contains some of the largest known species of elephants, over four metres t ...

'' spp. ** Asian straight-tusked elephant (largest land mammal on record) ** Naumann's elephant * '' Loxodonta atlantica'' (possible ancestor of the

African bush elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...

) * East Timor giant rat (''Coryphomys'') *

Verhoeven's giant tree rat Verhoeven's giant tree rat (''Papagomys theodorverhoeveni'') is an extinct rat of subfamily Murinae that lived on Flores in Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the ...

(''Papagomys theodorverhoeveni'') *

Asian ostrich The Asian or Asiatic ostrich (''Struthio asiaticus''), is an extinct species of ostrich that lived during the Neogene period on the Indian subcontinent. The early records that ranged from the Pliocene epoch in Africa to Pleistocene- Holocene epoc ...

(''Struthio asiaticus'') * Japanese flightless duck (''Shiriyanetta hasegawai'') * Bennu heron (''Ardea bennuides'') * '' Leptoptilos robustus'' * ''

Hipposideros besaoka ''Hipposideros besaoka'' is an extinct bat from Madagascar in the genus ''Hipposideros''. It is known from numerous jaws and teeth, which were collected in a cave at Anjohibe in 1996 and described as a new species in 2007. The site where ''H.&nb ...

'' *

Giant fossa ''Cryptoprocta spelea'', also known as the giant fossa, is an extinct species of carnivore from Madagascar in the family Eupleridae which is most closely related to the mongooses and includes all Malagasy carnivorans. It was first described in 19 ...

(''Cryptoprocta spelea'') * '' Microgale macpheei'' * Bibymalagasy (aardvark-like mammals endemic to Madagascar) * Giant members of

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

(Lemuroidea) ** Giant aye-aye (''Daubentonia robusta'') ** Giant ruffed lemur (''Pachylemur'') **

Koala lemur ''Megaladapis'' ("Great ''Adapis''" from Ancient Greek μεγαλος (megalos), "great, big" + Modern Latin ''Adapis'', "'' Adapis''"), informally known as the koala lemur, was a genus belonging to the family Megaladapidae, consisting of thre ...

(''Megaladapis'') ** All

monkey lemur The monkey lemurs or baboon lemurs (Archaeolemuridae) are a recently extinct family of lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and ...

(Archaeolemuridae) spp. *** '' Hadropithecus'' *** '' Archaeolemur'' ** All sloth lemur (Palaeopropithecidae) spp. *** ''

Archaeoindris ''Archaeoindris fontoynontii'' is an extinct giant lemur and the largest primate known to have evolved on Madagascar, comparable in size to a male gorilla. It belonged to a family of extinct lemurs known as " sloth lemurs" (Palaeopropithecidae ...

'' (largest lemur on record) *** '' Palaeopropithecus'' *** '' Babakotia'' *** '' Mesopropithecus'' * All members of

elephant bird Elephant birds are members of the extinct ratite family Aepyornithidae, made up of flightless birds that once lived on the island of Madagascar. They are thought to have become extinct around 1000-1200 CE, probably as a result of human activity. ...

, also known as vorompatra in

Malagasy language Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th c ...

(Aepyornithidae) ** '' Aepyornis'' ** '' Mullerornis'' ** '' Vorombe titan'' (largest bird on record) * Malagasy sheldgoose (''Centrornis'') *

Malagasy shelduck The Malagasy shelduck (''Alopochen sirabensis''), also known as the Sirabe shelduck, is an extinct species of waterfowl in the shelduck subfamily, described from Late Pleistocene fossils found at Antsirabe in central Madagascar. It is relate ...

(''Alopochen sirabensis'') * Hova gallinule (''Hovacrex roberti'') * Malagasy lapwing (''Vanellus madagascariensis'') *

Malagasy crowned eagle The Malagasy crowned eagle (''Stephanoaetus mahery''), also known as the Madagascar crowned hawk-eagle, is an extinct large bird of prey endemic to Madagascar. It has been proposed that this bird, combined with elephant bird eggs, were the sourc ...

(''Stephanoaetus maher'') * Ampoza ground roller (''Brachypteracias langrandi'') * ''

Voay ''Voay'' is an extinct genus of crocodile from Madagascar that lived during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene, containing only one species, ''V. robustus''. Numerous subfossils have been found, including complete skulls, noted for their distinctiv ...

'' * Various '' Aldabrachelys'' giant tortoise ** '' Abrupt giant tortoise'' ** '' Grandidier's giant tortoise'' * ''

Canariomys ''Canariomys'' is an extinct genus of rodents (Old World rats and mice) that once existed on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, part of the Canary Islands, Spain. These giant rats could reach a weight of about . They were herbivores; their ...

'' **

Tenerife giant rat The Tenerife giant rat (''Canariomys bravoi'') is an extinct species of rodent endemic to the island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, Spain. Many remains have been found during archeological digs. Most remains are from the Pleisto ...

(''Canariomys bravoi'') **

Gran Canaria giant rat The Gran Canaria giant rat (''Canariomys tamarani'') is an extinct species of rat endemic to the island of Gran Canaria ( Canary Islands, Spain). This rodent is known from Holocene to pre-Hispanic fossil remains found at several places on the i ...

(''Canariomys tamarani'') * Canary Islands quail (''Coturnix gomerae'') * Long-legged bunting (''Emberiza alcoveri'') * '' Centrochelys'' * ''

Gallotia goliath ''Gallotia goliath'' (the Tenerife giant lizard or goliath Tenerife lizard) is an extinct giant lizard species from the island of Tenerife of the Canary Islands, Spain. This reptile lived before the arrival of humans and is believed to have gr ...

'' * Several

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

(Simiiformes) spp. ** Vietnamese Orangutan ** Various ''

'' spp. *** Archaic African hominins (undescribed) *** ''

'' ***

Flores Man ''Homo floresiensis'' also known as "Flores Man"; nicknamed "Hobbit") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago. The remains of an in ...

*** '' Homo luzonensis'' ***

Denisovans The Denisovans or Denisova hominins ) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. Denisovans are known from few physical remains and consequently, most of what is know ...

(''Homo'' sp.) ***

Neanderthals Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While ...

(''Homo'' (''sapiens'') ''neanderthalensis'') *** Red Deer Cave people (''Homo sapiens'') *** Unknown Asiatic hominins (''Homo'' sp.) *** Balangoda Man (''Homo sapiens balangodensis'')

Palearctic: Europe and northern Asia

16 PanneauDesLions(CentreGauche)RhinocérosEnFuite

ZOO_Olomouc07_Panthera_pardus_orientalis

The

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

spans the entirety of the European continent and stretches into

northern Asia North Asia or Northern Asia, also referred to as Siberia, is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geographical terms and is coextensive with the Asian part of Russia, and consists of three Russian regions east of the Ural Mountain ...

, through the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

and

central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climate ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

and

Beringia Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip ...

. During the

, this region was noted for its great diversity and dynamism of

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

s, including the warm climes of the

Mediterranean basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

, open temperate woodlands, arid plains, mountainous heathland and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s, all of which were vulnerable to the severe climatic fluctuations of the interchanges between glacial and interglacials periods ( stadials). However, it was the expansive

mammoth steppe During the Last Glacial Maximum, the mammoth steppe, also known as steppe-tundra, was the Earth's most extensive biome. It spanned from Spain eastward across Eurasia to Canada and from the arctic islands southward to China. The mammoth step ...

which was the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

which united and defined this region during the Late Pleistocene. One of the key features of Europe's Late Pleistocene climate was the often drastic turnover of conditions and biota between the numerous stadials, which could set within a century. For example, during glacial periods, the entire

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

was drained of water to form Doggerland. The final major cold spell occurred from 25,000 BCE to 18,000 BCE and is known as the

, when the Fenno-Scandinavian ice sheet covered much of

northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors ...

, while the Alpine ice sheet occupied significant parts of central-southern Europe. Europe and northern Asia, being far colder and drier than today, was largely hegemonized by the

, an

dominated by palatable high-productivity

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns ...

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

and willow shrubs. This supported an extensive biota of

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

fauna and stretched eastwards from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

in modern-day

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The area was populated by many species of grazers which assembled in large herds similar in size to those in Africa today. Populous species which roamed the great grasslands included the woolly mammoth,

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...

, ''

Elasmotherium ''Elasmotherium'' is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through the Pleistocene, existing at least as late as 39,000 years ago in the Late Pleistocene. A more recent date of 26,000 BP is considered ...

'',

steppe bison The steppe bisonSeveral literatures address the species as ''primeval bison''. or steppe wisent (''Bison'' ''priscus'')
– Y ...

, Pleistocene horse, muskox, '' Cervalces'',

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

, various

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

s ( goat-horned antelope, mongolian gazelle, saiga antelope and twisted-horned antelope) and steppe pika. Carnivores included Eurasian cave lion, scimitar cat,

cave hyena The cave hyena (''Crocuta crocuta spelaea''), also known as the Ice Age spotted hyena, was a paleosubspecies of spotted hyena which ranged from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern Siberia. It is one of the best known mammals of the Ice Age and is w ...

grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

, dhole and the Arctic fox. At the edges of these large stretches of grassland could be found more shrub-like terrain and dry

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

(akin to forest steppe or

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...

). The browsing collective of megafauna included

, giant deer,

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, '' Cervalces'',

tarpan The term tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') refers to free-ranging horses of the Russian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids. The las ...

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene ...

, woodland bison,

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...

s and smaller deer (

Siberian roe deer The Siberian roe deer, eastern roe deer, or Asian roe (''Capreolus pygargus''), is a species of roe deer found in northeastern Asia. In addition to Siberia and Mongolia, it is found in Kazakhstan, the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan, eastern T ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of ...

and

Siberian musk deer The Siberian musk deer (''Moschus moschiferus'') is a musk deer found in the mountain forests of Northeast Asia. It is most common in the taiga of southern Siberia, but is also found in parts of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria and the ...

Brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is k ...

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ...

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

s and

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

es also inhabited this biome.

s were at stages also present, from the edges of

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

around the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. The more mountainous terrain, incorporating montane grassland, subalpine conifer forest,

alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

and broken, craggy slopes, was occupied by several species of mountain-going animals like argali,

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the R ...

ibex An ibex (plural ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa ...

, mouflon,

Red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...

, pika,

s, ''Ursus spp.'' and

, with

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...

s, Baikal yak and

snow sheep The snow sheep (''Ovis nivicola''), or Siberian bighorn sheep, is a species of sheep from the mountainous areas in the northeast of Siberia. One subspecies, the Putorana snow sheep ''(Ovis nivicola borealis)'', lives isolated from the other forms ...

Arctic tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

, which lined the north of the mammoth steppe, reflected modern ecology with species such as the polar bear,

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and muskox. Other biomes, although less noted, were significant in contributing to the diversity of fauna in Late Pleistocene Europe. Warmer grasslands such as temperate steppe and Mediterranean savannah hosted ''

Stephanorhinus ''Stephanorhinus'' is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of ''Stephanorhinus'' were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much ...

'',

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...

European bison The European bison (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, along ...

es, '' Leptobos'',

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

and

onager The onager (; ''Equus hemionus'' ), A new species called the kiang (''E. kiang''), a Tibetan relative, was previously considered to be a subspecies of the onager as ''E. hemionus kiang'', but recent molecular studies indicate it to be a distinct ...

. These biomes also contained an assortment of mammoth steppe fauna, such as saiga antelope,

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

, scimitar cats,

, Pleistocene horse, steppe bison, twisted-horned antelope,

and

s. Temperate coniferous,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

, mixed broadleaf and Mediterranean forest and open woodland accommodated straight-tusked elephants, ''

Praemegaceros ''Praemegaceros'' is an extinct genus of deer, known from the Pleistocene and Holocene of Western Eurasia. It contains the subgenera ''Praemegaceros,'' ''Orthogonoceros'' and ''Nesoleipoceros''. It has sometimes been synonymised with '' Megalocer ...

'', ''

'',

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

, bovids such as

tahr Tahrs ( , ) or tehrs ( ) are large artiodactyl ungulates related to goats and sheep. There are three species, all native to Asia. Previously thought to be closely related to each other and placed in a single genus, ''Hemitragus'', genetic stud ...

and tur, species of ''

Ursus Ursus is Latin for bear. It may also refer to: Animals * ''Ursus'' (mammal), a genus of bears People * Ursus of Aosta, 6th-century evangelist * Ursus of Auxerre, 6th-century bishop * Ursus of Solothurn, 3rd-century martyr * Ursus (''praefectus ...

'' such as the

Etruscan bear ''Ursus etruscus'' (the Etruscan bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe, Asia and North Africa during the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from ~5.3 million to 100,000 years ago. Taxonomy ''Ursus etruscus'' appears ...

and smaller deer (

Roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes, ...

and Mediterranean deer) with several mammoth steppe species such as

, dholes,

, giant deer, woodland bison,

s and

Woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...

and

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

occasionally resided in these temperate biomes, mixing with predominately temperate fauna to escape harsh glacials. In warmer

s, European water buffalo and

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

were present. Although these habitats were restricted to micro refugia and to

southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern regions of Europe, region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countrie ...

and its fringes, being in

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, Ukraine's

basin, the

and

, during inter-glacials these biomes had a far more northernly range. For example,

inhabited

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and straight-tusked elephant the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, as recently as 80,000 BCE and 42,000 BCE respectively. The first possible indications of habitation by hominins are the 7.2 million year old finds of ''

Graecopithecus ''Graecopithecus'' is an extinct species of hominid that lived in southeast Europe during the late Miocene around 7.2 million years ago. Originally identified by a single lower jaw bone bearing a molar tooth found in Pyrgos Vasilissis, Athens, ...

'', and 5.7 million year old footprints in Crete — however established habitation is noted in Georgia from 1.8 million years ago, proceeded to Germany and France, by ''

''. Prominent co-current and subsequent species include ''

Homo antecessor ''Homo antecessor'' (Latin "pioneer man") is an extinct species of archaic human recorded in the Spanish Sierra de Atapuerca, a productive archaeological site, from 1.2 to 0.8 million years ago during the Early Pleistocene. Populations of this ...

'', ''

Homo cepranensis Ceprano Man, Argil, and Ceprano Calvarium, refers to a Middle Pleistocene archaic human fossil, a single skull cap ( calvaria), accidentally unearthed in a highway construction project in 1994 near Ceprano in the province of Frosinone, Italy. Alth ...

'', '' Homo heidelbergensis'',

s and denisovans, preceding habitation by Homo sapiens circa 38,000 BCE. Extensive contact between African and Eurasian Homo groups is known at least in part through transfers of stone-tool technology in 500,000 BCE and again at 250,000 BCE. Europe's Late Pleistocene biota went through two phases of extinction. Some fauna became extinct before 13,000 BCE, in staggered intervals, particularly between 50,000 BCE and 30,000 BCE. Species include

, ''

'', straight-tusked elephant, ''

'',

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...

and scimitar cat. However, the great majority of species were extinguished, extirpated or experienced severe population contractions between 13,000 BCE and 9,000 BCE, ending with the

Younger Dryas The Younger Dryas (c. 12,900 to 11,700 years BP) was a return to glacial conditions which temporarily reversed the gradual climatic warming after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 27,000 to 20,000 years BP). The Younger Dryas was the last stag ...

. At that time there were small ice sheets in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. The mammoth steppe

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...

from the vast majority of its former range, either due to a permanent shift in climatic conditions, or an absence of

ecosystem management Ecosystem management is an approach to natural resource management that aims to ensure the long-term sustainability and persistence of an ecosystems function and services while meeting socioeconomic, political, and cultural needs. Although indige ...

due to decimated, fragmented or

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

populations of

megaherbivores Megaherbivores (Greek μέγας megas "large" and Latin ''herbivora'' "herbivore") are large terrestrial herbivores that can exceed in weight. This polyphyletic group of megafauna includes elephants, rhinos, hippos, and giraffes. The largest ...

. This led to a region wide

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

, resulting in cyclically diminishing bio-productivity and

defaunation Defaunation is the global, local or functional extinction of animal populations or species from ecological communities. The Human overpopulation, growth of the human population, combined with advances in harvesting technologies, has led to more int ...

. Insular species on

Mediterranean islands The following is a list of islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The two main island countries in the region are Malta and Cyprus, while other countries with islands in the Mediterranean Sea include Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Croatia, ...

such as

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, went extinct around the same time as humans colonised those islands. Fauna included dwarf

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

s, megacerines and

hippopotamuses The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

, and giant

avians Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

and rodents. * Various

spp. ** Steppe bison (''Bison priscus'') ** Baikal yak (''Bos baikalensis'') ** European water buffalo (''Bubalus murrensis'') ** European tahr (''Hemitragus cedrensis'') ** Giant muskox (''Praeovibos priscus'') ** Balearic Islands cave goat (''Myotragus balearicus'') ** Northern saiga antelope (''Saiga borealis'') ** Twisted-horned antelope (''Spirocerus kiakhtensis'') ** Goat-horned antelope (''Parabubalis capricornis'') ** '' Gazella'' spp. * Various

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

(Cervidae) spp. ** Broad-fronted moose (''Cervalces latifrons'') **

Giant deer The Irish elk (''Megaloceros giganteus''), also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus '' Megaloceros'' and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleist ...

(''Megaloceros giganteus'') ** ''

'' ** Cretan dwarf megacerine (''Candiacervus'') ** Mediterranean deer (''Haploidoceros mediterraneus'') ** Palmated red deer (''Cervus elaphus acoronatus'') * All native ''

'' spp. ** European hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus antiquus'') ** Maltese dwarf hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus melitensis'') ** Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus minor'') ** Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus pentlandi'') * ''Camelus knoblochi'' and other ''

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

us'' spp. * Various ''Equus'' spp. e.g. **

Wild horse The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii''). The Europea ...

( ''Equus ferus'' ssp.) ** ''Equus''

cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...

''gallicus'' **

European Ass The European wild ass (''Equus hemionus hydruntinus'') or hydruntine is an extinct equine from the Middle Pleistocene to Late Holocene of Western Eurasia. It appeared first in the fossil record around 350–300,000 years before present. In the la ...

(''Equus hydruntinus'') ** ''Equus''

''latipes'' ** ''Equus''

''lenensis'' ** ''Equus''

''uralensis'' * All native

(Rhinocerotidae) spp. ** ''

'' **

(''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') ** ''

'' spp. ***

Merck's rhinoceros ''Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis'', also known as Merck's rhinoceros or the forest rhinoceros, is an extinct species of rhino known from the Middle to Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. One of the last members of the genus ''Stephanorhinus'', it is co ...

(''Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis'') ***

Narrow-nosed rhinoceros The narrow-nosed rhinoceros (''Stephanorhinus hemitoechus'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that lived in western Eurasia and North Africa during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe some 600,000 years ago, and survived there until ...

(''Stephanorhinus hemiotoechus'') *

Cave wolf The cave wolf (''Canis lupus spelaeus'') is an extinct subspecies of wolf that lived during the Late Pleistocene Ice Age. It inhabited what is now modern-day western Europe. The Don wolf (''C. l. brevis'') from eastern Europe is regarded as a ta ...

(''Canis lupus spelaeus'') *

Dire wolf The dire wolf (''Aenocyon dirus'' ) is an extinct canine. It is one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores in North America, along with its extinct competitor ''Smilodon''. The dire wolf lived in the Americas and eastern Asia during the Late ...

(''Aenocyon dirus'') * Various

spp. ** Eurasian scimitar cat (''Homotherium latidens'') **

Cave lynx The cave lynx or Mediterranean cave lynx (''Lynx spelaeus'' or ''Lynx pardinus spelaeus'') is an extinct felid species that lived during the Pleistocene. It is controversially discussed to be a subspecies of the modern Iberian lynx (''Lynx pardin ...

(''Lynx pardinus spelaeus'') ** Issoire lynx (''Lynx issiodorensis'') ** Panthera spp. *** Cave lion (''Panthera spelaea'') *** European ice age leopard (''Panthera pardus spelaea'') * Cave hyena (''Crocuta crocuta spelaea'') *

European dhole The European dhole (''Cuon alpinus europaeus'') was a paleosubspecies of the dhole, which ranged throughout much of Western and Central Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Like the modern Asiatic populations, it was a more progressi ...

(''Cuon alpinus europaeus'') *

Sardinian dhole The Sardinian dhole (''Cynotherium sardous'') is an extinct insular canid which was endemic to what is now the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia (Italy) and Corsica (France), which were joined for much of the Pleistocene. It went extinct when ...

(''Cynotherium sardous'') * Several

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

(Lutrinae) spp. ** Robust Pleistocene European otter (''Cyrnaonyx'') ** Pleistocene Mediterranean otter (''Algarolutra'') ** Sardinian giant otter (''Megalenhydris barbaricina'') ** Sardinian dwarf otter (''Sardolutra'') **

Cretan otter The Cretan otter ''(Lutrogale cretensis)'' is an extinct otter that was endemic to Crete during the Pleistocene. Taxonomy It was a close relative of the smooth-coated otter ''(L. perspicillata)'', whom today lives only in southern Asia but had a ...

(''Lutrogale cretensis'') * Various ''Ursus'' spp. ** Steppe brown bear (''Ursus arctos'' "''priscus''") ** Gamssulzen cave bear (''Ursus ingressus'') ** Pleistocene small cave bear (''Ursus rossicus'') **

Cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ' ...

(''Ursus spelaeus'') ** Giant polar bear (''Ursus maritimus tyrannus'') * All native

Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

(Elephantidae) spp. **

Woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...

(''Mammuthus primigenius'') ** Dwarf mammoth *** Cretan dwarf mammoth (''Mammuthus creticus'') *** Dwarf Sardinian mammoth (''Mammuthus lamarmorai'') ** Straight-tusked elephant (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus'') **

Dwarf elephant Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea which, through the process of allopatric speciation on islands, evolved much smaller body sizes (around ) in comparison with their immediate ancestors. Dwarf elephants are an example ...

*** ''

Palaeoloxodon chaniensis ''Palaeoloxodon chaniensis'' is an extinct species of pygmy straight-tusked elephant. The species is described from limited remains found in Stylos and in Vamos cave, Chania, west Crete. See also *Dwarf elephant Dwarf elephants are prehisto ...

'' *** Cyprus dwarf elephant (''Palaeoloxodon cypriotes'') ***

Pygmy elephant The Borneo elephant, also called the Bornean elephant or the Borneo pygmy elephant, is a subspecies of Asian elephant ''(Elephas maximus)'' that inhabits northeastern Borneo, in Indonesia and Malaysia. Its origin remains the subject of debate. A d ...

(''Palaeoloxodon falconeri'') *** '' Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis'' * Balearic giant dormouse (''Hypnomys'') spp. e.g. **

Majorcan giant dormouse Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Balea ...

(''Hypnomys morpheus'') * ''

Leithia ''Leithia'' is a genus of extinct giant dormice from the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily. It is considered an example of island gigantism. ''Leithia melitensis'' is the largest known species of dormouse, living or extinct, being twi ...

'' spp. (Maltese and Sicilian giant dormouse) *

Pika A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...

(''Ochotona'') spp. e.g. ** Giant pika (''Ochotona whartoni'') *

(''Struthio asiaticus'') * Giant swan (''Cygnus falconeri'') * Yakutian goose (''Anser djuktaiensis'') * Various European crane spp. (Genus '' Grus'') ** '' Grus primigenia'' ** ''

Grus melitensis Grus can refer to * ''Grus'' (genus), a genus of birds in the crane family ** ''Grus grus'', the common crane * Grus (constellation), the constellation "Crane" * Grus (geology) Grus is an accumulation of angular, coarse-grained fragments (part ...

'' * Cretan owl (''Athene cretensis'') *

Denisovan The Denisovans or Denisova hominins ) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. Denisovans are known from few physical remains and consequently, most of what is known ...

s (''Homo'' sp.) *

(''Homo'' (''sapiens'') ''neanderthalensis''; survived until about 40,000 years ago on the Iberian peninsula) Many species extant today were present in areas either far to the south or west of their contemporary ranges- for example, all the arctic fauna on this list inhabited regions as south as the

at various stages of the

. Recently extinct organisms are noted as †. Species extirpated from significant portions of or all former ranges in Europe and northern Asia during the Quaternary extinction event include- * † European lion (''Panthera leo europaea)'' *

(''Panthera tigris'', from the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

) *

Cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

(''Acinonyx'' ''jubatus'') *

(''Panthera pardus)'' *

Snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...

(''Panthera uncia'') *

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...

and Iberian lynx ( ''Lynx lynx'' and ''Lynx pardinus'') *

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

(''Gulo gulo'') * Polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') * Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus'') *

Dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...

(''Cuon alpinus)'' * Gray wolf († Megafaunal et

Beringian wolf The Beringian wolf is an extinct population of wolf (''Canis lupus'') that lived during the Ice Age. It inhabited what is now modern-day Alaska, Yukon, and northern British Columbia. Some of these wolves survived well into the Holocene. The ...

, and the

Paleolithic dog The Paleolithic dog was a Late Pleistocene canine. They were directly associated with human hunting camps in Europe over 30,000 years ago and it is proposed that these were domesticated. They are further proposed to be either a proto-dog and the ...

(''

Canis lupus The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

'')) * †

Tarpan The term tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') refers to free-ranging horses of the Russian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids. The las ...

(''Equus ferus ferus'') *

Fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes, ...

(''Dama dama'') *

Mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian Sea, Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds. Taxonomy ''Ovis gmelini'' ...

(''Ovis gmelini)'' * Chamois (''Rupicapra'' spp.) *

West Caucasian tur The West Caucasian tur (''Capra caucasica'') is a mountain-dwelling goat-antelope native to the western half of the Caucasus Mountains range, in Georgia and European Russia. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the wild population ...

(''Capra caucasica'') *

Saiga antelope The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a critically endangered antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in t ...

(''Saiga tatarica'') * Reindeer (''Rangifer tarandus'') * Moose (''Alces alces'') * Onager ''(Equus hemionus'') * †Aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') *

(''Bison bonasus'') * Wild water buffalo, Asian water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee'') * Musk ox (''Ovibos moschatus)'' * Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus,'' from the

to North China, Northern China) * Steppe pika (''Ochotona pusilla'') * Great jerboa (''Allactaga major'') *

(''Hippopotamus amphibius'') * Northern bald ibis (''Geronticus eremita)'' * †Great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') * Snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus'') * Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus'')

Nearctic:

During the last 60,000 years, including the end of the last glacial period, approximately 51 genera of large mammals have become extinct in North America. Of these, many genera extinctions can be reliably attributed to a brief interval of 11,500 to 10,000 radiocarbon years before present, shortly following the arrival of the Clovis people in North America . In contrast, only about half a dozen small mammals disappeared during this time. Most other extinctions are poorly constrained in time, though some definitely occurred outside of this narrow interval. For example, a genetic study published in 2021 indicates that horses, that were directly related to the modern horses, were still present in

at least until 5,700 years ago or mid-

. Previous North American extinction pulses had occurred at the end of glaciations, but not with such an ecological imbalance between large mammals and small ones. Moreover, previous extinction pulses were not comparable to the Quaternary extinction event; they involved primarily species replacements within ecological niches, while the latter event resulted in many ecological niches being left unoccupied. Such include the last native North American terror bird (''Titanis''), rhinoceros (''Aphelops'') and hyena (''Chasmaporthetes''). The extinction also had the effect of increasing homogenisation of large mammal communities between around 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Human habitation commenced unequivocally approximately 22,000 BCE north of the glacier, and 13,500 BCE south, however disputed evidence of southern human habitation exists from 130,000 BCE and 17,000 BCE onwards, described from sites in California and Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Meadowcroft in Pennsylvania. Other prominent paleontological sites documenting human expansion into North America can be found in Mexico and Panama, the crossroads of the Great American Interchange, American Interchange. North American extinctions (noted as herbivores (H) or carnivores (C)) included: * Various

spp. ** Most forms of Pleistocene bison (only American bison, ''Bison bison'' in North America, and European bison, ''Bison bonasus'' in Eurasia, survived) ***Bison antiquus, Ancient bison (''Bison antiquus'') (H) *** Bison latifrons, Long-horned/Giant bison (''Bison latifrons'') (H) *** Steppe bison (''Bison priscus'') (H) *** ''Bison occidentalis'' (H) ** Wild yak (''Bos mutus''; extirpated) (H) ** Several members of ''Caprinae'' (the muskox survived) *** Giant muskox (''Praeovibos priscus'') (H) *** Shrub-ox (''Euceratherium collinum'') (H) *** Harlan's muskox (''Bootherium bombifrons'') (H) *** Soergelia mayfieldi, Soergel's ox (''Soergelia mayfieldi'') (H) *** Harrington's mountain goat (''Oreamnos harringtoni''; smaller and more southern distribution than its Mountain Goat, surviving relative) (H) ** Saiga, Saiga antelope (''Saiga tatarica''; extirpated) (H) * Stag-moose (''Cervalces scotti'') (H) * American mountain deer (''Odocoileus lucasi'') (H) * ''Torontoceros, Torontoceros hypnogeos'' (H) * Various Antilocapridae genera (pronghorns survived) ** Capromeryx minor, ''Capromeryx'' (H) ** ''Stockoceros'' (H) ** ''Tetrameryx'' (H) ** Antilocapra pacifica, Pacific pronghorn (''Antilocapra pacifica'') (H) * Several peccary (Tayassuidae) spp. **Platygonus compressus, Flat-headed peccary (''Platygonus'') (H) ** Long-nosed peccary (''Mylohyus'') (H) **Collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu''; extirpated, range semi-recolonised) (H) (''Muknalia minimus'' is a junior synonym) * Various members of Camelidae ** Camelops, Western camel (''Camelops hesternus'') (H) ** Hemiauchenia, Stilt legged llamas (''Hemiauchenia'' ssp.) (H) ** Palaeolama, Stout legged llamas (''Palaeolama'' ssp.) (H) * All native forms of Equidae ** ''Equus alaskae'' (H) ** ''Equus cedralensis'' (H) ** Equus conversidens, Mexican horse (''Equus conversidens'') (H) ** ''Equus complicatus'' (H) ** ''Equus fraternus'' (H) ** Equus giganteus, Giant horse (H) ** Onager (''Equus hemionus''; extirpated) (H) ** Kiang (''Equus kiang''; extirpated) (H) ** Equus lambei, Yukon horse (''Equus lambei'') (H) ** ''Equus mexicanus'' (H) ** Equus niobrarensis, Niobrara horse (''Equus niobrarensis'') (H) ** Equus pacificus, Pacific horse (''Equus pacificus'') (H) ** Equus occidentalis, Western horse (''Equus occidentalis'') (H) ** ''Equus semiplicatus'' (H) ** Hagerman horse (''Equus simplicidens'') (H) ** Equus scotti, Scott's horse (''Equus scotti'') (H) ** Haringtonhippus, Stilt-legged horse (''Haringtonhippus francisci'' / ''Equus francisci''; may be a synonym of Mexican horse) (H) * All members of North American tapir (''Tapirus''; four species) ** California tapir (''Tapirus californicus'') (H) ** Tapirus merriami, Merriam's tapir (''Tapirus merriami'') (H) ** Tapirus veroensis, Vero tapir (''Tapirus veroensis'') (H) * ''Mixotoxodon'' (H) * An indeterminate Litopterna, litoptern from Mexico City, México City. * Several

spp. ** Smilodon, North American saber-toothed cat (''Smilodon fatalis'') (C) ** Homotherium, North American scimitar cat (''Homotherium serum'') (C) ** American cheetah (''Miracinonyx''; not true cheetah) *** ''Miracinonyx inexpectatus'' (C) *** ''Miracinonyx trumani'' (C) ** Cougar (''Puma concolor''; megafaunal Ecomorphology, ecomorph extirpated from North America, South American populations recolonised former range) (C) ** Jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi''; extirpated, range semi-recolonised) (C) ** Margay (''Leopardus weidii''; extirpated) (C) ** Ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis''; extirpated, range marginally recolonised) (C) ** Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx''; extirpated) (C) ** Panthera onca augusta, Pleistocene North American jaguar (''Panthera onca augusta''; range semi-recolonised by other subspecies) (C) ** American lion (''Panthera atrox''; endemic to North America after 340,000 BP) (C) ** Panthera spelaea, Eurasian cave lion (''Panthera spelaea''; present only as far as modern day

) (C) *Steppe polecat (''Mustela eversmanii''; extirpated) (C) *

(''Aenocyon dirus'') (C) *Pleistocene coyote (''Canis latrans orcutti'') (C) * Megafaunal wolf e.g. **

(''Canis lupus'' ssp.) (C) *

(''Cuon alpinus''; extirpated) (C) * ''Protocyon troglodytes'' (C) *Brachyprotoma obtusata, Short-faced skunk (''Brachyprotoma obtusata'') (C) * Various bear (Ursidae) spp. ** Giant short-faced bear, Arctodus simus'' (C)'' ** Florida cave bear, Florida spectacled bear (''Tremarctos floridanus'') (C) ** Arctotherium, South American short-faced bear (''Arctotherium wingei'') (C) ** Giant polar bear (''Ursus maritimus tyrannus''; a possible inhabitant) (C) * Pristine mustached bat (''Pteronotus'' (''Phyllodia'') ''pristinus'') (C) * Stock's vampire bat (''Desmodus stocki'') (C) * All native spp. of Proboscidea ** American mastodon (''Mammut americanum'') (H) ** Mammut pacificus, Pacific mastodon (''Mammut pacificus'') (H) ** Gomphotheriidae spp. *** ''Cuvieronius'' (H) *** ''Stegomastodon'' (H) ** Mammoth (''Mammuthus'') spp. *** Columbian mammoth (''Mammuthus columbi'') (H) *** Pygmy mammoth (''Mammuthus exilis'') (H) ***

(''Mammuthus primigenius'') (H) *

(''Hydrodamalis gigas''; extirpated in North America) (H) * Castoroides, Giant beaver (''Castoroides'') spp. ** ''Castoroides, Castoroides ohioensis'' (H) ** ''Castoroides, Castoroides leiseyorum'' (H) * ''Neochoerus'' spp. e.g. ** Neochoerus pinckneyi, Pinckney's capybara (''Neochoerus pinckneyi'') (H) * Klein's porcupine (''Erethizon kleini'') (H) * All giant hutia (Heptaxodontidae) spp. ** Blunt-toothed giant hutia (''Amblyrhiza inundata''; could grow as large as an American black bear) (H) ** Plate-toothed giant hutia (''Elasmodontomys obliquus'') (H) ** Twisted-toothed mouse (''Quemisia gravis'') (H) ** Osborn's key mouse (''Clidomys osborn's'') (H) ** ''Xaymaca fulvopulvis'' (H) * Aztlanolagus, Aztlan rabbit (''Aztlanolagus'' sp.) (H) * Webb's marsh rabbit (''Sylvilagus webbi'') (H) * Giant pika (''Ochotona whartoni'') (H) * All members of the Xenotrichini, Antilles monkeys (''Xenotrichini'') ** Jamaican monkey (''Xenothrix mcgregori'') (H) ** Cuban monkey (''Paralouatta'') (H) ** Hispaniola monkey (''Antillothrix bernensis'') (H) ** ''Insulacebus toussaintiana'' (H) * Giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''; extirpated, range partially recolonised) (C) * All remaining ground sloth spp. ** ''Eremotherium'' (Megatheriidae, megatheriid ground sloth) (H) ** ''Nothrotheriops'' (Nothrotheriidae, nothrotheriid ground sloth) (H) ** Megalonychidae, Megalonychid ground sloth spp. *** ''Megalonyx'' (H) *** ''Nohochichak'' (H) *** ''Xibalbaonyx'' (H) ** Megalocnidae, Megalocnid Pilosans of the Caribbean, Greater Antillean dwarf ground sloth spp. (some were probably at least partly arboreal) *** ''Acratocnus'' (H) *** ''Habanocnus'' (H) *** ''Megalocnus'' (H) *** ''Miocnus'' (H) *** ''Neocnus'' (H) ** Mylodontidae, Mylodontid ground sloth spp. *** ''Paramylodon'' (H) *** ''Glossotherium'' (H) * All members of Glyptodontidae ** ''Glyptotherium'' (H) ** ''Pachyarmatherium'' (H) * Dasypus bellus, Beautiful armadillo (''Dasypus bellus'') (H) * All Pampatheriidae spp. e.g. ** ''Holmesina'' (H) ** ''Pampatherium'' (H) * Bermuda flightless duck (''Anas pachyscelus'') (H) * Chendytes, Californian flightless sea duck (''Chendytes lawi'') (C) * Stiff-tailed duck, Mexican stiff-tailed duck (''Oxyura zapatima'') (H) * Turkey (bird), Turkey (''Meleagris'') spp. ** Californian turkey (''Meleagris californica'') (H) ** ''Meleagris crassipes'' (H) * Various Gruiformes spp. ** All Nesotrochis, cave rail (''Nesotrochis'') spp. e.g. *** Antillean cave rail (''Nesotrochis debooyi'') (C) ** Barbados rail (Incertae sedis) (C) ** Cuban flightless crane (''Antigone cubensis'') (H) ** Grus pagei, La Brea crane (''Grus pagei'') (H) * Various flamingo (Phoenicopteridae) spp. ** Minute flamingo (''Phoenicopterus minutus'') (C) ** Cope's flamingo (''Phoenicopterus copei'') (C) * Dow's puffin (''Fratercula dowi'') (C) * Pleistocene Mexican Loon, diver spp. **''Plyolimbus baryosteus'' (C) ** ''Podiceps'' spp. ***''Podiceps parvus'' (C) * Ciconia maltha, La Brea/Asphalt stork (''Ciconia maltha'') (C) * Wetmore's stork (''Mycteria wetmorei'') (C) * Pleistocene Mexican cormorants spp. (genus ''Phalacrocorax'') **''Phalacrocorax goletensis'' (C) ** ''Phalacrocorax chapalensis'' (C) * Jamaican ibis (''Xenicibis xympithecus'') (C) * All remaining Teratornithidae, teratorn (Teratornithidae) spp. **Aiolornis, ''Aiolornis incredibilis'' (C) ** Cathartornis, ''Cathartornis gracilis'' (C) ** Oscaravis, ''Oscaravis olsoni'' (C) ** Teratornis, ''Teratornis merriami'' (C) ** Teratornis, ''Teratornis woodburnensis'' (C) * Several New World vultures (Cathartidae) spp. ** Black vulture, Pleistocene black vulture (''Coragyps occidentalis'' ssp.) (C) ** Gymnogyps amplus, Megafaunal Californian condor (''Gymnogyps amplus'') (C) ** Breagyps clarki, Clark's condor (''Breagyps clarki'') (C) ** Gymnogyps varonai, Cuban condor (''Gymnogyps varonai'') (C) * Several Accipitridae spp. ** Neophrontops americanus, American neophrone vulture (''Neophrontops americanus'') (C) ** Woodward's eagle (''Amplibuteo woodwardi'') (C) ** Buteogallus borrasi, Cuban great hawk (''Buteogallus borrasi'') (C) ** Buteogallus daggetti, Daggett's eagle (''Buteogallus daggetti'') (C) ** Buteogallus fragilis, Fragile eagle (''Buteogallus fragilis'') (C) ** Gigantohierax suarezi, Cuban giant hawk (''Gigantohierax suarezi'') (C) ** Neogyps errans, Errant eagle (''Neogyps errans'') (C) ** Spizaetus grinnelli, Grinnell's crested eagle (''Spizaetus grinnelli'') (C) ** Spizaetus willetti, Willett's hawk-eagle (''Spizaetus willetti'') (C) ** Titanohierax, Caribbean titan hawk (''Titanohierax'') (C) * Several owl (Strigiformes) spp. ** Asphaltoglaux, Brea miniature owl (''Asphaltoglaux'') (C) ** Glaucidium kurochkini, Kurochkin's pygmy owl (''Glaucidium kurochkini'') (C) ** Oraristrix, Brea owl (''Oraristix brea'') (C) ** Ornimegalonyx, Cuban giant owl (''Ornimegalonyx'') (C) * Bermuda flicker (''Colaptes oceanicus'') (C) * Several Caracara (subfamily), caracara (Caracarinae) spp. ** Bahaman terrestrial caracara (''Caracara (genus), Caracara'' sp.) (C) ** Puerto Rican terrestrial caracara (''Caracara (genus), Caracara'' sp.) (C) ** Jamaican caracara (''Carcara tellustris'') (C) ** Cuban caracara (''Milvago'' sp.) (C) ** Hispaniolan caracara (''Milvago'' sp.) (C) * Saint Croix macaw (''Ara autocthones'') (H) * Rhynchopsitta phillipsi, Mexican thick-billed parrot (''Rhynchopsitta phillipsi'') (H) * Puerto Rican crow (''Corvus pumilis'') (C) * Several giant tortoise spp. ** ''Hesperotestudo'' (H) ** ''Gopherus'' spp. *** ''Gopherus donlaloi'' (H) ** ''Chelonoidis'' spp. *** ''Chelonoidis marcanoi'' (H) *** ''Chelonoidis alburyorum'' (H) The survivors are in some ways as significant as the losses: bison (H),

(C),

(C), grizzly bear (C), American black bear (C),

(e.g. caribou,

, Elk, wapiti (elk), ''Odocoileus'' spp.) (H), pronghorn (H), white-lipped peccary (H), muskox (H), bighorn sheep (H), and mountain goat (H); the list of survivors also include species which were extirpated during the Quaternary extinction event, but recolonised at least part of their ranges during the mid-holocene from South American relict populations, such as the cougar (C), jaguar (C), giant anteater (C), collared peccary (H), ocelot (C) and jaguarundi (C). All save the pronghorns and giant anteaters were descended from Asian ancestors that had evolved with human predators. Pronghorns are the second-fastest land mammal (after the

), which may have helped them elude hunters. More difficult to explain in the context of overkill is the survival of bison, since these animals first appeared in North America less than 240,000 years ago and so were geographically removed from human predators for a sizeable period of time. Because ancient bison evolved into living bison, there was no continent-wide extinction of bison at the end of the Pleistocene (although the genus was regionally extirpated in many areas). The survival of bison into the Holocene and recent times is therefore inconsistent with the overkill scenario. By the end of the Pleistocene, when humans first entered North America, these large animals had been geographically separated from intensive human hunting for more than 200,000 years. Given this enormous span of geologic time, bison would almost certainly have been very nearly as naive as native North American large mammals. The culture that has been connected with the wave of extinctions in North America is the paleo-American culture associated with the Clovis culture, Clovis people (''q.v.''), who were thought to use Atlatl, spear throwers to kill large animals. The chief criticism of the "prehistoric overkill hypothesis" has been that the human population at the time was too small and/or not sufficiently widespread geographically to have been capable of such ecologically significant impacts. This criticism does not mean that climate change scenarios explaining the extinction are automatically to be preferred by default, however, any more than weaknesses in climate change arguments can be taken as supporting overkill. Some form of a combination of both factors could be plausible, and overkill would be a lot easier to achieve large-scale extinction with an already stressed population due to climate change.

Neotropic: South America

Charles_Darwin_200_year_exhibition_Brazil_skull

The Neotropical realm was affected by the fact that South America had been isolated as an island continent for many millions of years, and had a wide range of fauna found nowhere else, although many of them became extinct during the

about 3 million years ago, such as the ''Sparassodonta'' Family (biology), family. Those that survived the interchange included the ground sloths, glyptodonts, litopterns, pampatheres, Phorusrhacidae, phorusrhacids (terror birds) and notoungulates; all managed to extend their range to North America. In the Pleistocene, South America remained largely unglaciated except for increased mountain glaciation in the Andes, which had a two-fold effect- there was a faunal divide between the Andes, and the colder, arid interior resulted in the advance of temperate lowland woodland, tropical savanna and desert at the expense of rainforest. Within these open environments, megafauna diversity was extremely dense, with over 40 genera recorded from the Guerrero member of Luján, Buenos Aires, Luján Formation alone. Ultimately, by the Holocene, mid-Holocene, all the preeminent genera of megafauna became extinct- the last specimens of ''Doedicurus'' and ''Toxodon'' have been dated to 5th millennium BC, 4,555 BCE and 30th century BC, 3,000 BCE respectively. Their smaller relatives remain, including anteaters, Sloth, tree sloths, armadillos; Ameridelphia, New World marsupials: opossums, shrew opossums, and the monito del monte (actually more related to Australidelphia, Australian marsupials). Intense human habitation was established circa 11,000 BCE, however partly disputed evidence of Pre-Clovis, pre-clovis habitation occurs since 46,000 BCE and 20,000 BCE, such as at the Serra da Capivara National Park (Brazil) and Monte Verde (Chile) sites. Today the largest land mammals remaining in South America are the wild camels of the ''Lamini'' group, such as the guanacos and vicuñas, and the genus ''Tapirus'', of which Baird's tapir can reach up to 400 kg. Other notable surviving large fauna are Peccary, peccaries, marsh deer (''Capreolinae''), giant anteaters, spectacled bears, Maned wolf, maned wolves, Cougar, pumas, ocelots, jaguars, Rhea (bird), rheas, emerald tree boas, boa constrictors, anacondas, American crocodiles, Caimaninae, caimans, and giant rodents such as capybaras. * Several Cervidae spp. ** ''Morenelaphus'' ** ''Antifer'' ** ''Agalmaceros blicki'' ** ''Odocoileus salinae'' * Various Camelidae spp. ** ''Eulamaops'' ** Stilt legged llama ''Hemiauchenia'' ** Stout legged llama ''Palaeolama'' * All Pleistocene wild horse genera (Equidae) ** ''Equus'' (''Amerhippus'') *** ''Equus andium'' *** ''Equus insulatus'' *** ''Equus neogeus'' ** ''Hippidion'' (''Onohippidium'') *** ''Hippidion devillei'' *** ''Hippidion principale'' *** ''Hippidion saldiasi'' * All remaining Meridiungulata genera ** Litopterna spp. *** ''Macrauchenia'' *** ''Macraucheniopsis'' *** Proterotheriidae spp. e.g. **** (''Neolicaphrium, Neolicaphrium recens'') *** ''Xenorhinotherium'' ** Notoungulata spp. *** ''Hegetotheriidae spp.'' *** ''Mesotheriidae spp.'' *** ''Mixotoxodon'' *** ''Toxodon'' * Several

spp. ** Saber-toothed cat (''Smilodon'') spp. *** Smilodon fatalis, North American saber-toothed cat (''Smilodon fatalis'') *** Smilodon populator, South American saber-toothed cat (''Smilodon populator'') ** Pleistocene South American jaguar (''Panthera onca mesembrina'') * Dire wolf (''Dire wolf, Aenocyon dirus'') * Nehring's wolf (''Canis nehringi'') * ''Protocyon'' spp. ** ''Protocyon trogolodytes'' ** ''Protocyon tarijense'' * ''Dusicyon avus'' * Pleistocene bush dog (''Speothos pacivorus'') * South American short-faced bear (''Arctotherium'' spp.) ** ''Arctotherium bonairense'' ** ''Arctotherium tarijense'' ** ''Arctotherium wingei'' * Giant vampire bat (''Desmodus draculae'') * All remaining Gomphotheridae spp. ** ''Cuvieronius'' ** ''Notiomastodon, Notiomastodon/Haplomastodon'' * ''Neochoerus'' * All remaining ground sloth genera ** Megatheriidae spp. *** ''Eremotherium'' *** Megatherium, Giant ground sloth ** Nothrotheriidae spp. *** ''Nothropus'' *** ''Nothrotherium'' ** Megalonychidae spp. *** ''Ahytherium'' *** ''Australonyx'' *** ''Diabolotherium'' *** ''Megistonyx'' *** ''Proplatyarthrus'' *** ''Valgipes'' ** Mylodontidae spp. *** ''Catonyx'' *** ''Glossotherium'' *** ''Lestodon'' *** ''Mylodon'' *** ''Nematherium'' *** ''Octomylodon'' *** ''Orophodon'' *** ''Scelidotherium'' *** ''Scelidodon'' * All remaining Glyptodontinae spp. ** ''Doedicurus'' ** ''Eleutherocercus'' ** ''Glyptodon, Glyptodon/Chlamydotherium'' ** ''Heteroglyptodon'' ** ''Hoplophorus'' ** ''Lomaphorus'' ** ''Neosclerocalyptus'' ** ''Neuryurus'' ** ''Panochthus'' ** ''Parapanochthus'' ** ''Plaxhaplous'' ** ''Sclerocalyptus'' * Several Dasypodidae spp. ** Beautiful armadillo (''Dasypus bellus'') ** ''Eutatus'' ** ''Pachyarmatherium'' ** ''Propaopus'' * All Pampatheriidae spp. ** ''Holmesina'' (et ''Chlamytherium occidentale'') ** ''Pampatherium'' ** ''Tonnicinctus'' * ''Psilopterus'' (small terror bird remains dated to the Late Pleistocene, but these are disputed) * Various Caracarinae spp. ** Venezuelan caracara (''Caracara major'') ** Seymour's caracara (''Caracara seymouri'') ** Peruvian caracara (''Milvago brodkorbi'') * Various ''Cathartidae spp.'' ** ''Pampagyps imperator'' ** ''Geronogyps reliquus'' ** ''Wingegyps cartellei'' ** ''Pleistovultur nevesi'' * ''Caiman venezuelensis'' * ''Chelonoidis lutzae'' (Argentina)

The Pacific (Australasia and Oceania)

There exists two hypotheses regarding the extinction of the Australalasian megafauna, the first being that they went extinct with the arrival of the Aboriginal Australians on the continent, while he second hypothesis is that the Australian megafauna went extinct due to natural climate change. The main reason this theory exists is that there is evidence of megafauna surviving up until 40,000 years ago, a full 30,000 years after homo sapiens first landed in Australia. Implying that there was a significant period of homo sapiens and megafauna coexistence. Evidence of these animals existing at this time come from fossils records and ocean sediment. To begin with, sediment core drilled in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the southwest Australia indicate the existence of a fungus called Sporormiella which survived off the dung of plant eating mammals. The abundance of these spores in the sediment prior to 45,000 years ago indicates a lot of large mammals existed on the southwest Australian landscape up until that point. The sediment data also indicated that the megafauna population collapsed within a few thousand years around the 45,000 years ago suggesting a rapid extinction event. In addition, fossils found at South Walker Creek, which is the youngest megafauna site in northern Australia, indicate that at least 16 species of megafauna survived there up until 40,000 years ago. Furthermore, there is no firm evidence of homo sapiens beings at South Walker Creek 40,000 years ago, therefore no human cause can be attributed to the extinction of these megafauna. However, there is evidence of major environmental deterioration of South Water Creek 40,000 years ago which the extinction can be attributed to. These changes include increased fire, reduction in grasslands, and the loss of freshwater. The same environmental deterioration is seen across Australia at the time further strengthening the climate change argument. Australia’s climate at the time could best be described as an overall drying of the landscape due to less mean annual precipitation causing less freshwater availability and more drought conditions across the landscape. Overall, this led to changes in vegetation, increased fires, overall reduction in grasslands, and a greater competition for already scarce amount of freshwater. In turn all these environmental changes proved to be too much for the Australian megafauna to cope with causing 90% of megafauna species to go extinct. The third hypothesis shared by some scientists is that human impacts and natural climate changes led to the extinction of Australian megafauna. To begin with it is important to note that approximately 75% of Australia is semi-arid or arid landscape, therefore it makes sense that megafauna species utilized the same freshwater resources as humans. As a result, this could have increased the amount of megafauna hunted due to the competition for freshwater as the drought conditions persisted. On top of the already dry conditions and diminishing grasslands, homo sapiens used fire agriculture to burn impassable land. This further diminished the already disappearing grassland which contained plants that were key dietary component of herbivorous megafauna. While there is no scientific consensus on the true cause of the extinction of Australian megafauna it is plausible that homo sapiens and natural climate change both had an impact because they were both in Australia at the time. Overall, there is an immense amount of evidence pointing to humans being the culprit but by ruling out climate change completely as a cause of the Australian megafauna extinction we are not getting the whole picture. The climate change that occurred in Australia 45,000 years ago destabilized the ecosystem making it particularly vulnerable to hunting and fire agriculture by humans; this is probably what led to the extinction of the Australian megafauna. Thylacoleo_carnifex_cave_art

In Australia (continent), Sahul (a former continent composed of Fauna of Australia, Australia and Fauna of New Guinea, New Guinea), the sudden and extensive spate of extinctions occurred earlier than in the rest of the world. Most evidence points to a 20,000 year period after human arrival circa 63,000 BCE, but scientific argument continues as to the exact date range. In the rest of the Pacific (other Australasian realm, Australasian islands such as New Caledonia, and Oceanian realm, Oceania) although in some respects far later, endemic fauna also usually perished quickly upon the arrival of humans in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. This section does only include extinctions that took place prior to European discovery of the respective islands. The extinctions in the Pacific included: * Various members of ''Diprotodontidae'' ** ''Diprotodon'' ** ''Euowenia'' ** ''Euryzygoma dunense'' ** ''Hulitherium tomasetti'' ** ''Maokopia ronaldi'' ** ''Nototherium'' ** ''Zygomaturus'' * ''Palorchestes'' ("marsupial tapir") * Various members of ''Wombat, Vombatidae'' ** ''Lasiorhinus angustidens'' (giant wombat) ** ''Phascolomys'' (giant wombat) ** ''Phascolonus'' (giant wombat) ** ''Ramasayia magna'' (giant wombat) ** ''Vombatus hacketti'' (Hackett's wombat) ** ''Warendja wakefieldi'' (dwarf wombat) * ''Giant koala, Phascolarctos stirtoni'' (giant koala) * Marsupial lion (''Thylacoleo carnifex)'' * Various members of ''Macropodidae'' ** ''Procoptodon'' (short-faced kangaroos) e.g. *** ''Procoptodon goliah'' ** ''Sthenurus'' (giant kangaroo) ** ''Simosthenurus'' (giant kangaroo) ** Various ''Macropus'' (giant kangaroo) spp. e.g. *** ''Macropus titan'' *** ''Macropus pearsoni'' ** ''Protemnodon'' (giant wallaby) ** ''Troposodon'' (wallaby) ** ''Bohra (genus), Bohra'' (giant tree kangaroo) ** ''Propleopus, Propleopus oscillans'' (omnivorous, giant musky rat-kangaroo) * Thylacine (''Thylacinus cynocephalus''; extirpated on mainland Australia and New Guinea) * Various forms of ''Sarcophilus'' (Tasmanian devil) **''Sarcophilus laniarius'' (25% larger than modern species) ** ''Sarcophilus moornaensis'' ** ''Sarcophilus harrisii'' (extirpated on mainland Australia) * ''Murrayglossus hacketti'' (giant echidna) * ''Megalibgwilia'' (oldest known echidna, same extinction period) * Pygmy Cassowary (''Casuarius lydekkeri'') * Genyornis, Mihirung (a Dromornithidae, dromornithid * Tasmanian nativehen (''Tribonyx mortierii''; extirpated on mainland Australia) * Giant malleefowl (''Leipoa gallinacea'') * Several Phoenicopteridae spp. ** American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber''; extirpated in Australia) ** ''Xenorhynchopsis'' spp. (Australian flamingo) *** ''Xenorhynchopsis minor'' *** ''Xenorhynchopsis tibialis'' ** ''Ocyplanus proeses'' (Australian flamingo) *''Ikanogavialis'' (the last fully marine crocodilian) * ''Pallimnarchus'' (Australian freshwater crocodile) * ''Quinkana'' (Australian terrestrial crocodile, apex predator) * ''Wonambi'' (a five-to-six-metre-long Australian constrictor snake) * Megalania (''Varanus pricus'') (a giant predatory monitor lizard) * Several spp. of Meiolaniidae (giant armoured tortoises) ** ''Meiolania'' ** ''Ninjemys'' * ''Sylviornis'' (giant, flightless New Caledonian Galliformes, galliform; largest in existence) * Noble megapode (''Megavitornis altirostris'') * Giant ''Megapodius'' spp. ** Pile-builder megapode (''Megapodius molistructor'') ** Consumed scrubfowl (''Megapodius alimentum'') ** Viti Levu scrubfowl (''Megapodius amissus'') * New Caledonian ground dove (''Gallicolumba longitarsus'') * Viti Levu giant pigeon (''Natunaornis gigoura'') * Marquesas cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia heana'') * New Caledonian gallinule (''Porphyrio kukwiedei'') * Various ''Gallirallus'' spp. * Various Coenocorypha spp. ** New Caledonian snipe (''Coenocorypha miratropica'') ** Viti Levu snipe (''Coenocorypha neocaledonica'') * Lowland kagu (''Rhynochetos orarius'') * Niue night heron (''Nycticorax kalavikai'') * Several ''Accipiter'' spp.^{Accipiter, [3]} ** Powerful goshawk (''Accipiter efficax'') ** Gracile goshawk (''Accipiter quartus'') * New Caledonian barn owl (''Tyto letocarti'') * ''Mekosuchus'' (two meters long, last fully terrestrial crocodile, South Pacific Islands) * ''Volia'' (a two-to-three meter long Mekosuchinae, mekosuchine crocodylian, apex predator of Pleistocene Fiji) * ''Varanus sp.'' (Pleistocene and Holocene New Caledonia) * Several giant Iguanidae spp. ** ''Lapitiguana'' ** ''Brachylophus gibbonsi'' Giant Haasts eagle attacking New Zealand moa

Giant Haasts eagle attacking New Zealand moa

* All Dinornithiformes spp. ** Giant moa (''Dinornis'') ** Upland moa (''Megalapteryx didinus'') ** Bush moa (''Anomalopteryx didiformis'') ** Eastern moa (''Emeus crassus'') ** Coastal moa (''Euryapteryx curtus'') ** ''Pachyornis'' * Scarlett's duck (''Malacorhynchus scarletti'') * New Zealand musk duck (''Biziura delautouri'') * Chatham Islands duck (''Pachyanas chathamica'') * New Zealand goose (''Cnemiornis'') * New Zealand swan (''Cygnus sumnerensis'') * New Zealand owlet-nightjar (''Aegotheles novazelandiae'') * Adzebill (''Aptornis'') * Snipe-rail (''Capellirallus karamu'') * Hodgen's waterhen (''Gallinula hodgenorum'') * Waitaha penguin (''Megadyptes waitaha'') * Scarlett's shearwater (''Puffinus spelaeus'') * Several Harrier (bird), harriers (''Circus'') ** Eyles's harrier (''Circus eylesi'') ** Wood harrier (''Circus dossenus''; endemic to Hawaii) * Haast's eagle (''Hieraaetus moorei''; largest eagle known to have existed) * Various ''Corvus'' spp. ** New Zealand raven (''Corvus antipodum'') ** Chatham raven (''Corvus moriorum'') ** High-billed crow (''Corvus impluviatus''; large crow endemic to Maui) * Long-billed wren (New Zealand), Long-billed wren (''Dendroscansor decurvirostris'') * Stout-legged wren (''Pachyplichas yaldwyni'') * Kawekaweau (''Hoplodactylus delcourti'') * Northland skink (''Oligosoma northlandi'') * Several frogs of the genus ''Leiopelma'' ** Auroa frog, Aurora frog (''Leiopelma auroraensis'') ** Markham's frog (''Leiopelma markhami'') ** Waitomo frog (''Leiopelma waitomoensis'') * ''Synemporion keana'' (Bat endemic to Hawaii) * Kaua'i mole duck (''Talpanas lippa''; a blind, flightless, terrestrial Hawaiian duck) * All members of Thambetochenini ** Turtle-jawed moa-nalo (''Chelychelynechen quassus''; from Kaua'i) ** Small-billed moa-nalo (''Ptaiochen pau''; from Maui) ** O'ahu moa-nalo (''Thambetochen xanion'') ** Maui Nui large-billed moa-nalo (''Thambetochen chauliodous'') * Giant Hawaii goose (''Branta rhuax'') * Nēnē-nui (''Branta hylobadistes'') * Great Maui crake (''Porzana severnsi'') * O'ahu petrel (''Pterodroma jugabilis'') * ''Apteribis'' (a giant, flightless ibis) * Stilt-owl (''Grallistrix'') * Giant nukupu'u (''Hemignathus vorpalis'') * Stout-legged finch (''Ciridops tenax'') * Several finches of the genus ''Telespiza'' ** Telespiza persecutrix, Kaua'i finch (''Telespiza persecutrix'') ** Maui Nui finch (''Telespiza ypsilon'') * Kaua'i palila (''Loxioides kikuchi'') * Several Rhodacanthis spp. ** Primitive koa finch (''Rhodacanthis litotes'') ** Scissor-billed koa finch (''Rhodacanthis forfex'') * Wahi grosbeak, O'ahu grosbeak (''Chloridops wahi'') * Easter Island crake (''Porzana'' sp.) * Easter Island rail (undescribed) * Undescribed Easter Island heron * Barn owl (''Tyto alba''; extirpated on Easter Island) * Two species of undescribed Easter Island parrots Some extinct megafauna, such as the bunyip-like ''Diprotodon'', may remain in folk memory or be the sources of Cryptozoology, cryptozoological legends.

Relationship to later extinctions

There is no general agreement on where the

, or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic, extinction begins, and the Quaternary extinction event ends, or if they should be considered separate events at all. Some have suggested that anthropogenic extinctions may have begun as early as when the first modern humans spread out of Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago, which is supported by rapid megafaunal extinction following recent human colonisation in Australian megafauna, Australia, List of extinct animals of New Zealand, New Zealand and List of African animals extinct in the Holocene, Madagascar, in a similar way that any Invasive species, large, adaptable predator moving into a new ecosystem would. In many cases, it is suggested even minimal hunting pressure was enough to wipe out large fauna, particularly on Geographical isolation, geographically isolated islands. Only during the most recent parts of the extinction have Effect of climate change on plant biodiversity, plants also suffered large losses. Overall, the Holocene extinction can be characterised by the human impact on the environment. The Holocene extinction continues into the 21st century, with overfishing, ocean acidification and the Decline in amphibian populations, amphibian crisis being a few broader examples of an almost universal, cosmopolitan decline of biodiversity.

Hunting hypothesis

The hunting hypothesis suggests that humans hunted megaherbivores to extinction, which in turn caused the extinction of carnivores and scavengers which had preyed upon those animals. Therefore, this hypothesis holds Pleistocene humans responsible for the megafaunal extinction. One variant, known as ''blitzkrieg'', portrays this process as relatively quick. Some of the direct evidence for this includes: fossils of some megafauna found in conjunction with human remains, embedded arrows and tool cut marks found in megafaunal bones, and European cave paintings that depict such hunting. biogeography, Biogeographical evidence is also suggestive: the areas of the world where humans evolved currently have more of their Pleistocene megafaunal diversity (the elephants and Rhinoceros, rhinos of

and Africa) compared to other areas such as Australia, the

, Madagascar and New Zealand without the earliest humans. Homo-Stammbaum, Version Stringer-en

Circumstantially, the close correlation in time between the appearance of humans in an area and extinction there provides weight for this scenario. The megafaunal extinctions covered a vast period of time and highly variable climatic situations. The earliest extinctions in Australia were complete approximately 50,000 BP, well before the last glacial maximum and before rises in temperature. The most recent extinction in New Zealand was complete no earlier than 500 BP and during a period of cooling. In between these extremes megafaunal extinctions have occurred progressively in such places as North America, South America and Madagascar with no climatic commonality. The only common factor that can be ascertained is the arrival of humans. This phenomenon appears even within regions. The mammal extinction wave in Australia about 50,000 years ago coincides not with known climatic changes, but with the arrival of humans. In addition, large mammal species like the giant kangaroo ''Protemnodon'' appear to have succumbed sooner on the Australian mainland than on Tasmania, which was colonised by humans a few thousand years later. Extinction through human hunting has been supported by archaeological finds of mammoths with projectile points embedded in their skeletons, by observations of modern naive animals allowing hunters to approach easily and by computer models by Mosimann and Martin, and Whittington and Dyke, and most recently by Alroy. A study published in 2015 supported the hypothesis further by running several thousand scenarios that correlated the time windows in which each species is known to have become extinct with the arrival of humans on different continents or islands. This was compared against climate reconstructions for the last 90,000 years. The researchers found correlations of human spread and species extinction indicating that the Human impact on the environment, human impact was the main cause of the extinction, while climate change exacerbated the frequency of extinctions. The study, however, found an apparently low extinction rate in the fossil record of mainland Asia.

Overkill hypothesis

Extinctions Africa Austrailia NAmerica Madagascar

The overkill hypothesis, a variant of the hunting hypothesis, was proposed in 1966 by Paul Schultz Martin, Paul S. Martin, Professor of Geosciences Emeritus at the Desert Laboratory of the University of Arizona.

Objections to the hunting hypothesis

The major objections to the theory are as follows: * There is no archeological evidence that in North America megafauna other than mammoths, mastodons, gomphotheres and bison were hunted, despite the fact that, for example, camels and horses are very frequently reported in fossil history. Overkill proponents, however, say this is due to the fast extinction process in North America and the low probability of animals with signs of butchery to be preserved. A study by Surovell and Grund concluded "archaeological sites dating to the time of the coexistence of humans and extinct fauna are rare. Those that preserve bone are considerably more rare, and of those, only a very few show unambiguous evidence of human hunting of any type of prey whatsoever." * Eugene S. Hunn points out that the birthrate in hunter-gatherer societies is generally too low, that too much effort is involved in the bringing down of a large animal by a hunting party, and that in order for hunter-gatherers to have brought about the extinction of megafauna simply by hunting them to death, an extraordinary amount of meat would have had to have been wasted.

Climate change hypothesis

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when scientists first realized that there had been glacial and interglacial ages, and that they were somehow associated with the prevalence or disappearance of certain animals, they surmised that the termination of the Pleistocene ice age might be an explanation for the extinctions. Critics object that since there were :Image:Five Myr Climate Change.png, multiple glacial :Image:Atmospheric CO2 with glaciers cycles.gif, advances and withdrawals in the evolutionary history of many of the megafauna, it is rather implausible that only after the last glacial maximum would there be such extinctions. One study suggests that the Pleistocene megafaunal composition may have differed markedly from that of earlier interglacials, making the Pleistocene populations particularly vulnerable to changes in their environment. Some evidence weighs against climate change as a valid hypothesis as applied to Australia. It has been shown that the prevailing climate at the time of extinction (40,000–50,000 BP) was similar to that of today, and that the extinct animals were strongly adapted to an arid climate. The evidence indicates that all of the extinctions took place in the same short time period, which was the time when humans entered the landscape. The main mechanism for extinction was probably fire (started by humans) in a then much less fire-adapted landscape. Isotopic evidence shows sudden changes in the diet of surviving species, which could correspond to the stress they experienced before extinction. Evidence in Southeast Asia, in contrast to Europe, Australia, and the Americas, suggests that climate change and an increasing sea level were significant factors in the extinction of several herbivorous species. Alterations in vegetation growth and new access routes for early humans and mammals to previously isolated, localized ecosystems were detrimental to select groups of fauna. Some evidence obtained from analysis of the tusks of American mastodon, mastodons from the Great Lakes region (North America), American Great Lakes region appears inconsistent with the climate change hypothesis. Over a span of several thousand years prior to their extinction in the area, the mastodons show a trend of declining age at maturation. This is the opposite of what one would expect if they were experiencing stresses from deteriorating environmental conditions, but is consistent with a reduction in intraspecific competition that would result from a population being reduced by human hunting.

Increased temperature

The most obvious change associated with the termination of an ice age is the increase in temperature. Between 15,000 Before Present, BP and 10,000 BP, a 6 °C increase in global mean annual temperatures occurred. This was generally thought to be the cause of the extinctions. According to this hypothesis, a temperature increase sufficient to melt the Wisconsin glaciation, Wisconsin ice sheet could have placed enough thermal stress on cold-adapted mammals to cause them to die. Their heavy fur, which helps conserve body heat in the glacial cold, might have prevented the dumping of excess heat, causing the mammals to die of heat exhaustion. Large mammals, with their reduced Surface area to volume ratio, surface area-to-volume ratio, would have fared worse than small mammals. A study covering the past 56,000 years indicates that rapid warming events with temperature changes of up to had an important impact on the extinction of megafauna. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon data indicates that local genetic populations were replaced by others within the same species or by others within the same genus. Survival of populations was dependent on the existence of Refugium (population biology), refugia and long distance dispersals, which may have been disrupted by human hunters.

Arguments against the temperature hypothesis

Studies propose that the annual mean temperature of the current interglacial that we have seen for the last 10,000 years is no higher than that of previous interglacials, yet most of the same large mammals survived similar temperature increases. In addition, numerous species such as mammoths on

and Saint Paul Island (Alaska), St. Paul Island survived in human-free Refugium (population biology), refugia despite changes in climate. This would not be expected if climate change were responsible (unless their maritime climates offered some protection against climate change not afforded to coastal populations on the mainland). Under normal ecological assumptions island populations should be more vulnerable to extinction due to climate change because of small populations and an inability to migrate to more favorable climes.

Increased continentality affects vegetation in time or space

Other scientists have proposed that increasingly extreme weather—hotter summers and colder winters—referred to as "continentality", or related changes in rainfall caused the extinctions. The various hypotheses are outlined below.

Vegetation changes: geographic

It has been shown that vegetation changed from mixed

-aspen parkland, parkland to separate prairie and woodland. This may have affected the kinds of food available. Shorter growing seasons may have caused the extinction of large herbivores and the dwarfing of many others. In this case, as observed, bison and other large ruminants would have fared better than horses, elephants and other monogastrics, because ruminants are able to extract more nutrition from limited quantities of high-Dietary fiber, fiber food and better able to deal with anti-herbivory toxins. So, in general, when vegetation becomes more specialized, herbivores with less diet flexibility may be less able to find the mix of vegetation they need to sustain life and reproduce, within a given area.

Rainfall changes: time

Increased continentality resulted in reduced and less predictable rainfall limiting the availability of plants necessary for energy and nutrition. Axelrod and Slaughter have suggested that this change in rainfall restricted the amount of time favorable for reproduction. This could disproportionately harm large animals, since they have longer, more inflexible mating periods, and so may have produced young at unfavorable seasons (i.e., when sufficient food, water, or shelter was unavailable because of shifts in the growing season). In contrast, small mammals, with their shorter Biological life cycle, life cycles, shorter reproductive cycles, and shorter gestation periods, could have adjusted to the increased unpredictability of the climate, both as individuals and as species which allowed them to synchronize their reproductive efforts with conditions favorable for offspring survival. If so, smaller mammals would have lost fewer offspring and would have been better able to repeat the reproductive effort when circumstances once more favored offspring survival. In 2017 a study looked at the environmental conditions across Europe, Siberia and the Americas from 25,000–10,000 YBP. The study found that prolonged warming events leading to deglaciation and maximum rainfall occurred just prior to the transformation of the rangelands that supported megaherbivores into widespread wetlands that supported herbivore-resistant plants. The study proposes that moisture-driven environmental change led to the megafaunal extinctions and that Africa's trans-equatorial position allowed rangeland to continue to exist between the deserts and the central forests, therefore fewer megafauna species became extinct there.

Arguments against the continentality hypotheses

Critics have identified a number of problems with the continentality hypotheses. * Megaherbivores have prospered at other times of continental climate. For example, megaherbivores thrived in Pleistocene

, which had and has a more continental climate than Pleistocene or modern (post-Pleistocene, interglacial) North America. * The animals that became extinct actually should have prospered during the shift from mixed woodland-parkland to prairie, because their primary food source, grass, was increasing rather than decreasing. Although the vegetation did become more spatially specialized, the amount of prairie and grass available increased, which would have been good for horses and for mammoths, and yet they became extinct. This criticism ignores the increased abundance and broad geographic extent of Pleistocene ''Bison'' at the end of the Pleistocene, which would have increased competition for these resources in a manner not seen in any earlier interglacials. * Although horses became extinct in the New World, they were successfully reintroduced by the Spanish in the 16th century—into a modern post-Pleistocene, interglacial climate. Today there are feral horses still living in those same environments. They find a sufficient mix of food to avoid toxins, they extract enough nutrition from forage to reproduce effectively and the timing of their gestation is not an issue. Of course, this criticism ignores the obvious fact that present-day horses are not competing for resources with ground sloths, mammoths, mastodons, camels, llamas, and bison. Similarly, mammoths survived the Pleistocene Holocene transition on isolated, uninhabited islands in the Mediterranean Sea and on Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic until 4,000 to 7,000 years ago. * Large mammals should have been able to migrate, permanently or seasonally, if they found the temperature too extreme, the breeding season too short, or the rainfall too sparse or unpredictable. Seasons vary geographically. By migrating away from the equator, herbivores could have found areas with growing seasons more favorable for finding food and breeding successfully. Modern-day African elephants migrate during periods of drought to places where there is apt to be water. * Large animals store more fat in their bodies than do medium-sized animals and this should have allowed them to compensate for extreme seasonal fluctuations in food availability. The extinction of the megafauna could have caused the disappearance of the

. Alaska now has low nutrient soil unable to support bison, mammoths, and horses. R. Dale Guthrie has claimed this as a cause of the extinction of the megafauna there; however, he may be interpreting it backwards. The loss of large herbivores to break up the permafrost allows the cold soils that are unable to support large herbivores today. Today, in the arctic, where trucks have broken the permafrost grasses and diverse flora and fauna can be supported. In addition, Chapin (Chapin 1980) showed that simply adding fertilizer to the soil in Alaska could make grasses grow again like they did in the era of the mammoth steppe. Possibly, the extinction of the megafauna and the corresponding loss of dung is what led to low nutrient levels in modern-day soil and therefore is why the landscape can no longer support megafauna.

Arguments against both climate change and overkill

It may be observed that neither the overkill nor the climate change hypotheses can fully explain events: Browser (herbivore), browsers, mixed feeders and non-ruminant grazer species suffered most, while relatively more ruminant grazers survived. However, a broader variation of the overkill hypothesis may predict this, because changes in vegetation wrought by either Second Order Predation (see below) or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic fire preferentially selects against browse species.

Hyperdisease hypothesis

Theory

The hyperdisease hypothesis, as advanced by Ross D. E. MacFee and Preston A. Marx, attributes the extinction of large mammals during the late Pleistocene to indirect effects of the newly arrived Indigenous peoples, aboriginal humans. The hyperdisease hypothesis proposes that humans or animals traveling with them (e.g., chickens or domestic dogs) introduced one or more highly virulent diseases into vulnerable populations of native mammals, eventually causing extinctions. The extinction was biased toward larger-sized species because smaller species have greater resilience because of their life history traits (e.g., shorter gestation time, greater population sizes, etc.). Humans are thought to be the cause because other earlier immigrations of mammals into North America from Eurasia did not cause extinctions. Diseases imported by people have been responsible for extinctions in the recent past; for example, bringing avian malaria to Hawaii has had a major impact on the isolated birds of the island. If a disease was indeed responsible for the end-Pleistocene extinctions, then there are several criteria it must satisfy (see Table 7.3 in MacPhee & Marx 1997). First, the pathogen must have a stable Asymptomatic carrier, carrier state in a reservoir species. That is, it must be able to sustain itself in the environment when there are no susceptible Host (biology), hosts available to infect. Second, the pathogen must have a high infection rate, such that it is able to infect virtually all individuals of all ages and sexes encountered. Third, it must be extremely lethal, with a mortality rate of c. 50–75%. Finally, it must have the ability to infect multiple host species without posing a serious threat to humans. Humans may be infected, but the disease must not be highly lethal or able to cause an epidemic. One suggestion is that pathogens were transmitted by the expanding humans via the domesticated dogs they brought with them, though this does not fit the timeline of extinctions in the Americas and Australia in particular.

Arguments against the hyperdisease hypothesis

* Generally speaking, disease has to be very virulent to kill off all the individuals in a genus or species. Even such a virulent disease as West Nile fever is unlikely to have caused extinction. * The disease would need to be implausibly selective while being simultaneously implausibly broad. Such a disease needs to be capable of killing off wolves such as ''Canis dirus'' or goats such as ''Oreamnos harringtoni'' while leaving other very similar species (''Canis lupus'' and ''Oreamnos americanus'', respectively) unaffected. It would need to be capable of killing off flightless birds while leaving closely related flighted species unaffected. Yet while remaining sufficiently selective to afflict only individual species within genera it must be capable of fatally infecting across such clades as birds, marsupials, placentals, testudines, and crocodilians. No disease with such a broad scope of fatal infectivity is known, much less one that remains simultaneously incapable of infecting numerous closely related species within those disparate clades. On the other hand, this objection does not account for the possibility of a variety of different diseases being introduced around the same era. * Numerous species including wolves, mammoths, camelids, and horses had emigrated continually between Asia and North America over the past 100,000 years. For the disease hypothesis to be applicable there it would require that the population remain immunologically naive despite this constant transmission of genetic and pathogenic material. *The dog-specific hypothesis cannot account for several major extinction events, notably the Americas (for reasons already covered) and Australia. Dogs did not arrive in Australia until approximately 35,000 years after the first humans arrived there, and approximately 30,000 years after the Australian megafaunal extinction was complete.

Second-order predation hypothesis

Scenario

The Second-Order Predation Hypothesis says that as humans entered the New World they continued their policy of killing predators, which had been successful in the Old World but because they were more efficient and because the fauna, both herbivores and carnivores, were more naive, they killed off enough carnivores to upset the Ecological equilibrium, ecological balance of the continent, causing overpopulation (biology), overpopulation, environmental exhaustion, and environmental collapse. The hypothesis accounts for changes in animal, plant, and human populations. The scenario is as follows: * After the arrival of ''H. sapiens'' in the New World, existing predators must share the prey populations with this new predator. Because of this competition, populations of original, or first-order, predators cannot find enough food; they are in direct competition with humans. * Second-order predation begins as humans begin to kill predators. * Prey populations are no longer well controlled by predation. Killing of nonhuman predators by ''H. sapiens'' reduces their numbers to a point where these predators no longer regulate the size of the prey populations. * Lack of regulation by first-order predators triggers Boom and bust, boom-and-bust cycles in prey populations. Prey populations expand and consequently overgraze and over-browse the land. Soon the environment is no longer able to support them. As a result, many herbivores starve. Species that rely on the slowest recruiting food become extinct, followed by species that cannot extract the maximum benefit from every bit of their food. * Boom-bust cycles in herbivore populations change the nature of the vegetative environment, with consequent climatic impacts on relative humidity and continentality. Through overgrazing and overbrowsing, mixed parkland becomes grassland, and climatic continentality increases.

Support

This has been supported by a computer model, the Pleistocene extinction model (PEM), which, using the same assumptions and values for all variables (herbivore population, herbivore recruitment rates, food needed per human, herbivore hunting rates, etc.) other than those for hunting of predators. It compares the overkill hypothesis (predator hunting = 0) with second-order predation (predator hunting varied between 0.01 and 0.05 for different runs). The findings are that second-order predation is more consistent with extinction than is overkill (results graph at left). The Pleistocene extinction model is the only test of multiple hypotheses and is the only model to specifically test combination hypotheses by artificially introducing sufficient climate change to cause extinction. When overkill and climate change are combined they balance each other out. Climate change reduces the number of plants, overkill removes animals, therefore fewer plants are eaten. Second-order predation combined with climate change exacerbates the effect of climate change. (results graph at right). The second-order predation hypothesis is supported by the observation above that there was a massive increase in bison populations.

Arguments against the second-order predation hypothesis

* The multispecies model produces a mass extinction through indirect competition between herbivore species: small species with high reproductive rates subsidize predation on large species with low reproductive rates. All prey species are lumped in the Pleistocene extinction model. * The control of population sizes by predators is not fully supported by observations of modern ecosystems.

Arguments against the second-order predation plus climate hypothesis

* It assumes decreases in vegetation due to climate change, but deglaciation doubled the habitable area of North America. * Any vegetational changes that did occur failed to cause almost any extinctions of small vertebrates, and they are more narrowly distributed on average.

Younger Dryas impact hypothesis

First publicly presented at the Spring 2007 joint assembly of the American Geophysical Union in Acapulco, Mexico, the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis suggests that the mass extinction was caused by fragments of a disintegrating asteroid or comet 12,900 years ago. Using photomicrograph analysis, research published in January 2009 has found evidence of nanodiamonds in the soil from six sites across North America including Arizona, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and two Canadian sites. Similar research found nanodiamonds in the Greenland ice sheet.

Arguments against/for the impact hypothesis

The discredited and controversial Younger Dryas impact hypothesis claims that a comet impact or air burst occurred in North America about 12,900 years ago as the mechanism that initiated the Younger Dryas cooling. A spike in platinum was found in the Greenland ice cores by Petaev et al. (2013), which they view as a global signal. Confirmation came in 2017 with the report that the Pt spike had been found at "11 widely separated archaeological bulk sedimentary sequences." Wolbach et al. reported in 2018 that "YDB peaks in Pt were observed at 28 sites" in total, including the 11 reported earlier and the one from Greenland. * Some have reported a lack of evidence for a population decline among the Paleoindians at 12,900 ± 100 Calibrated years, calBP. However, others have reported finding such evidence. * There is evidence that the megafaunal extinctions that occurred across northern Eurasia, North America and South America at the end of the

were not synchronous as the bolide theory would predict. The extinctions in South America appear to have occurred at least 400 years after those in North America. * Additionally, some island megafaunal populations survived thousands of years longer than populations of the same or related species on nearby continents; examples include the survival of woolly mammoths on

until 3700 BP, and the survival of Megalocnus, ground sloths in the

until 4700 cal BP. * Several markers for the proposed impact event are disputed. Opponents have asserted that the carbon spherules originated as fungal structures and/or insect fecal pellets, and that the claimed nanodiamonds are actually misidentified graphene and graphene/graphane oxide aggregates. An analysis of a similar Younger Dryas boundary layer in Belgium also did not show evidence of a bolide impact. *However, proponents of the hypothesis have responded to defend their results, disputing the accusation of irreproducibility and/or replicating their findings. Prior to finding of a widespread Pt spike on the continents, Pleistocene expert Wallace Broecker had already changed his mind about the YDIH: "The Greenland platinum peak makes clear that an extraterrestrial impact occurred close to the onset of the YD."

Extinctions by biogeographic realm

Summary

Introduction

Afrotropic and Indomalaya: Africa and southern Asia

Palearctic: Europe and northern Asia

Nearctic:

Neotropic: South America

The Pacific (Australasia and Oceania)

Relationship to later extinctions

Hunting hypothesis

Overkill hypothesis

Objections to the hunting hypothesis

Climate change hypothesis

Increased temperature

Arguments against the temperature hypothesis

Increased continentality affects vegetation in time or space

Vegetation changes: geographic

Rainfall changes: time

Arguments against the continentality hypotheses

Arguments against both climate change and overkill

Hyperdisease hypothesis

Theory

Arguments against the hyperdisease hypothesis

Second-order predation hypothesis

Scenario

Support

Arguments against the second-order predation hypothesis

Arguments against the second-order predation plus climate hypothesis

Younger Dryas impact hypothesis

Arguments against/for the impact hypothesis

See also

References

External links

Hyperdisease hypothesis

Second-order predation

Other links