Ice_age_fauna_of_northern_Spain_-_Mauricio_Antón

The Quaternary 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 last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

s of numerous predominantly megafaunal 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 is differentiated from previous Quaternary pulse extinctions by the widespread absence of ecological succession to replace these extinct species, and the

regime shift Regime shifts are large, abrupt, persistent changes in the structure and function of ecosystems, the climate, financial systems or other complex systems.Lewontin, R. (1969) Meaning of Stability. ''Brookhaven Sym Biol'', 13Holling, C.S. (1973) Resil ...

of previously established faunal relationships and habitats as a consequence. The earliest casualties were incurred at 130,000 BCE (the start of the Late Pleistocene), in Australia ~ 60,000 years ago, in

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 ...

~ 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 and the

occurred during the transition from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological 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 finally confirmed in ...

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 Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

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 archipelago ...

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 ecologi ...

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

''. 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, 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 or ice sheets. * "prehistoric overkill hypothesis" * the extinction of the

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 ...

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 The term Australian megafauna refers to the megafauna in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are ...

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 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 cows persisted off the isolated and uninhabited

Commander Islands The Commander Islands, Komandorski Islands, or Komandorskie Islands (russian: Командо́рские острова́, ''Komandorskiye ostrova'') are a series of treeless, sparsely populated Russian islands in the Bering Sea located about ea ...

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, and human predation.

Afrotropic and Indomalaya: Africa and southern Asia

The

Afrotropic The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

and

Indomalaya The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

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. De ...

s, or Old World tropics, were relatively spared by the Late Pleistocene extinctions. Sub-Saharan Africa 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'' 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 ''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...

'' in Africa, the

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 and

neanderthal 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 the ...

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

, China 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 mainlan ...

. * 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 The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty h ...

) ** '' Bos palaesondaicus'' (ancestor to the banteng) ** ''

Bison hanaizumiensis Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Amer ...

'' ** Cebu tamaraw (''Bubalus cebuensis'') ** '' Bubalus grovesi'' ** '' Bubalus wansijocki'' ** Short-horned water buffalo (''Bubalus mephistopheles'') ** Giant long-horned buffalo (''Pelorovis'') ** Giant hartebeest (''Megalotragus'') ** '' Rusingoryx'' ** Various ''

Gazella 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 ...

'' 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 extan ...

'' 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 Ana ...

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

Hexaprotodon ''Hexaprotodon'' is an extinct genus of hippopotamid known from Asia. The name ''Hexaprotodon'' means "six front teeth" as some of the fossil forms have three pairs of incisors.

'' * Wild ''Equus'' spp. ** '' Equus capensis'' ** Saharan zebra (''Equus mauritanicus'') ** '' Equus namadicus'' ** Indian horse ** Yunnan horse * Several Rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae) spp. ** ''

Ceratotherium mauritanicum ''Ceratotherium mauritanicum'' is a species of fossil African rhinoceros found in the Late Pliocene to earliest Holocene of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Slightly older fossils from the Pliocene of eastern Africa were also proposed to bel ...

'' ** ''

Rhinoceros philippinensis ''Nesorhinus philippinensis'' is a Pleistocene-aged species of rhinoceros endemic to the Philippine islands. Fossil remains were found in modern day Metro Manila and Kalinga. It is estimated to have weighed around or less than 800kg, or at leas ...

'' ** South Asian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sivalensis'') * Giant tapir (''Tapirus augustus'') * Various Felidae spp. **

Sri Lanka lion The Sri Lankan lion (''Panthera leo sinhaleyus''), also known as the Ceylonese lion, is an extinct prehistoric subspecies of lion, excavated in Sri Lanka. It is believed to have become extinct prior to the arrival of culturally modern humans, . ...

(''Panthera leo'' ''sinhaleyus'') ** Leopard (''Panthera pardus''; extirpated from Japan and Sumatra) **

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living 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 preys on ...

(''Panthera tigris''; extirpated from Japan, 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 mos ...

, Bali,

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 ea ...

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 ''Ailuropoda baconi'' is an extinct panda known from cave deposits in south China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand from the Late Pleistocene, 750 thousand years ago, and was preceded by ''A. wulingshanensis'' and '' A. microta'' as an ancesto ...

'' (ancestor to the giant panda) *

Aardvark The aardvark ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlik ...

(''Orycteropus afer''; extirpated in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

circa 13,000 BCE) * ''

Stegodon ''Stegodon'' ("roofed tooth" from the Ancient Greek words , , 'to cover', + , , 'tooth' because of the distinctive ridges on the animal's molars) is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the fami ...

'' *

Elephas ''Elephas'' is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''Elephas maximus''. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back to ...

spp. ** '' Elephas hysudricus'' ** 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 the no ...

(extirpated in

and Syria) * '' Palaeoloxodon'' spp. ** Asian straight-tusked elephant (largest land mammal on record) ** Naumann's elephant * '' Loxodonta atlantica'' (possible ancestor of the African bush elephant) * East Timor giant rat (''Coryphomys'') * Verhoeven's giant tree rat (''Papagomys theodorverhoeveni'') * Asian ostrich (''Struthio asiaticus'') * Japanese flightless duck (''Shiriyanetta hasegawai'') *

Bennu heron The Bennu heron (''Ardea bennuides'') is an extinct, very large heron from what is now the United Arab Emirates at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Background Found in 1977, remains of the heron have been dated to 2700–1800 BCE, co ...

(''Ardea bennuides'') * '' Leptoptilos robustus'' * '' Hipposideros besaoka'' * Giant fossa (''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 The giant aye-aye (''Daubentonia robusta'') is an extinct relative of the aye-aye, the only other species in the genus ''Daubentonia''. It lived in Madagascar, appears to have disappeared less than 1,000 years ago, is entirely unknown in life, an ...

(''Daubentonia robusta'') ** Giant ruffed lemur (''Pachylemur'') ** Koala lemur (''Megaladapis'') ** All monkey lemur (Archaeolemuridae) spp. *** ''

Hadropithecus ''Hadropithecus'' ("bulky ape" from Greek ἁδρός (hadros), "bulky, large" + πίθηκος (pithekos), "ape") is a medium-sized, extinct genus of lemur, or strepsirrhine primate, from Madagascar that includes a single species, ''Hadrop ...

'' *** ''

Archaeolemur ''Archaeolemur'' ("ancient lemur" from Ancient Greek From Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos), "Ancient" + Modern Latin lemur, "lemur") is an extinct genus of subfossil lemurs known from the Holocene epoch of Madagascar. ''Archaeolemur'' i ...

'' ** All sloth lemur (Palaeopropithecidae) spp. *** '' Archaeoindris'' (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 ''Aepyornis'' is a genus of aepyornithid, one of three genera of ratite birds endemic to Madagascar until their extinction sometime around 1000 CE. The species ''A. maximus'' weighed up to , and until recently was regarded as the largest known ...

'' ** '' Mullerornis'' ** '' Vorombe titan'' (largest bird on record) * Malagasy sheldgoose (''Centrornis'') * Malagasy shelduck (''Alopochen sirabensis'') * Hova gallinule (''Hovacrex roberti'') * Malagasy lapwing (''Vanellus madagascariensis'') * Malagasy crowned eagle (''Stephanoaetus maher'') *

Ampoza ground roller The Ampoza ground roller (''Brachypteracias langrandi'') was a species of bird in the ground roller family Brachypteraciidae. It is known only from a single humerus fossil discovered in 1929 in southwest Madagascar. Little is known about the spec ...

(''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 ''Aldabrachelys'' is the recognised genus for the Seychelles and Madagascan radiations of giant tortoises, including the Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea''). Naming This name is problematic in that the type specimen is actually r ...

'' giant tortoise ** '' Abrupt giant tortoise'' ** '' Grandidier's giant tortoise'' * '' Canariomys'' ** Tenerife giant rat (''Canariomys bravoi'') ** Gran Canaria giant rat (''Canariomys tamarani'') * Canary Islands quail (''Coturnix gomerae'') * Long-legged bunting (''Emberiza alcoveri'') * ''

Centrochelys ''Centrochelys'' is a genus of tortoise. It contains one extant species and several extinct species: * ''Centrochelys atlantica'' * ''Centrochelys burchardi'' * ''Centrochelys marocana'' * ''Centrochelys robusta'' * ''Centrochelys vulcanica'' * ...

'' * '' Gallotia goliath'' * Several monkey (Simiiformes) spp. ** Vietnamese Orangutan ** Various ''

'' spp. *** Archaic African hominins (undescribed) *** '' Homo erectus'' *** Flores Man *** ''

Homo luzonensis ''Homo luzonensis'', also locally called "Ubag" after a mythical caveman, is an extinct, possibly pygmy peoples, pygmy, species of archaic human from the Late Pleistocene of Luzon, the Philippines. Their remains, teeth and phalanges, are known on ...

'' *** Denisovans (''Homo'' sp.) *** Neanderthals (''Homo'' (''sapiens'') ''neanderthalensis'') *** Red Deer Cave people (''Homo sapiens'') *** Unknown Asiatic hominins (''Homo'' sp.) ***

Balangoda Man Balangoda Man refers to hominins from Sri Lanka's late Quaternary period. The term was initially coined to refer to anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'' from sites near Balangoda that were responsible for the island's Mesolithic 'Balangoda Cult ...

(''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-Sib ...

spans the entirety of the

European continent Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

and stretches into northern Asia, through the

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

and

central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, 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 t ...

to northern China,

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, 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 ...

and Beringia. During the Late Pleistocene, 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, open temperate woodlands, arid plains, mountainous heathland and swampy

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) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s, all of which were vulnerable to the severe climatic fluctuations of the interchanges between glacial and interglacials periods (

stadial Stadials and interstadials are phases dividing the Quaternary period, or the last 2.6 million years. Stadials are periods of colder climate while interstadials are periods of warmer climate. Each Quaternary climate phase is associated with a Ma ...

s). However, it was the expansive mammoth steppe 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 syste ...

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, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

was drained of water to form

Doggerland Doggerland was an area of land, now submerged beneath the North Sea, that connected Britain to continental Europe. It was flooded by rising sea levels around 6500–6200 BCE. The flooded land is known as the Dogger Littoral. Geological sur ...

. The final major cold spell occurred from 25,000 BCE to 18,000 BCE and is known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when the Fenno-Scandinavian ice sheet covered much of northern Europe, 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 mammoth steppe, 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 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") , i ...

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 tot ...

. 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 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, Pleistocene horse,

muskox The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, ...

, ''

Cervalces ''Cervalces'' is an extinct deer genus that lived during the Pliocene and 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, ...

'',

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 sub ...

, various antelopes ( goat-horned antelope,

mongolian gazelle The Mongolian gazelle (''Procapra gutturosa''), or dzeren (russian: Дзерэн), is a medium-sized antelope native to the semiarid Central Asian steppes of Mongolia, as well as some parts of Siberia and China. The name ''dzeren'' is Russian ...

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 ...

and twisted-horned antelope) and

steppe pika The steppe pika (''Ochotona pusilla'') is a small mammal of the pika family, Ochotonidae. It is found in the steppes of southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan. General description Ochotonidae includes only one genus - ''Ochotona'', formed by ...

. Carnivores included Eurasian cave lion,

scimitar cat ''Homotherium'', also known as the scimitar-toothed cat or scimitar cat, is an extinct genus of machairodontine saber-toothed predator, often termed scimitar-toothed cats, that inhabited North America, South America, Eurasia, and Africa during th ...

, cave hyena, grey wolf,

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 ...

and the

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...

. At the edges of these large stretches of grassland could be found more shrub-like terrain and dry conifer

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 (se ...

(akin to

forest steppe A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest. Locations Forest steppe primarily occurs in a belt of forest steppes across northern Eurasia from the eastern ...

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, spruc ...

). The browsing collective of megafauna included

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 ...

, moose, ''

'', tarpan, aurochs, woodland bison, camels and smaller deer ( Siberian roe deer,

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 we ...

and Siberian musk deer). Brown bears,

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 ...

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, leopards and red foxes 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, whic ...

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 ...

to Beringia. The more mountainous terrain, incorporating

montane grassland Montane grasslands and shrublands is a biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes high elevation grasslands and shrublands around the world. The term "montane" in the name of the biome refers to "high elevation", rather than ...

, subalpine conifer forest, alpine tundra and broken, craggy slopes, was occupied by several species of mountain-going animals like

argali The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep. It ...

, chamois, ibex,

mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the 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'' was the sc ...

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 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 ...

, leopards, ''Ursus spp.'' and lynx, with

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

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 ...

in northern Asia.

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

. 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 ...

, Asian ostriches, '' 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

, lions,

s, cave hyenas,

, Pleistocene horse, steppe bison, twisted-horned antelope, aurochs and camels. 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, ...

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

'',

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 and tur, species of '' Ursus'' 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 lynx, tarpan,

s, moose,

, woodland bison, leopards and aurochs.

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 an ...

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 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 countries and regions: Alba ...

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 ...

, 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 i ...

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 '' Homo erectus''. Prominent co-current and subsequent species include '' Homo antecessor'', '' Homo cepranensis'', ''

'',

s and

s, 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

. 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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

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

. 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 due to decimated, fragmented or extinct 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

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 ...

, resulting in cyclically diminishing bio-productivity and defaunation. Insular species on Mediterranean islands 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 ge ...

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, ...

, 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 ...

s, megacerines and hippopotamuses, and giant avians,

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 weas ...

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 borealis'') ** Twisted-horned antelope (''Spirocerus kiakhtensis'') ** Goat-horned antelope (''Parabubalis capricornis'') ** ''

'' 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'') ** '' Praemegaceros'' ** 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 '' Camelus'' spp. * Various ''Equus'' spp. e.g. ** Wild horse ( ''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 (''Equus hydruntinus'') ** ''Equus''

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

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

''uralensis'' * All native Rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae) spp. ** ''

'' **

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

'' spp. *** Merck's rhinoceros (''Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis'') *** Narrow-nosed rhinoceros (''Stephanorhinus hemiotoechus'') * Cave wolf (''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 Felidae 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 (''Cuon alpinus europaeus'') * Sardinian dhole (''Cynotherium sardous'') * Several otter (Lutrinae) spp. ** Robust Pleistocene European otter (''Cyrnaonyx'') ** Pleistocene Mediterranean otter (''Algarolutra'') ** Sardinian giant otter (''Megalenhydris barbaricina'') ** Sardinian dwarf otter (''Sardolutra'') ** Cretan otter (''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 ...

(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 *** '' Palaeoloxodon chaniensis'' *** Cyprus dwarf elephant (''Palaeoloxodon cypriotes'') *** Pygmy elephant (''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'') * Asian ostrich (''Struthio asiaticus'') * Giant swan (''Cygnus falconeri'') * Yakutian goose (''Anser djuktaiensis'') * Various European crane spp. (Genus '' Grus'') ** '' Grus primigenia'' ** '' Grus melitensis'' * 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.) * Neanderthals (''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 Late Pleistocene. 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

to Beringia) *

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'') * Leopard (''Panthera pardus)'' *

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

(''Panthera uncia'') * Eurasian 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'') *

(''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 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 Ril ...

(''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 ...

(''Saiga tatarica'') *

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 subspe ...

(''Rangifer tarandus'') *

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 mal ...

(''Alces alces'') *

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 ...

''(Equus hemionus'') * †

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 Holocen ...

(''Bos primigenius'') *

(''Bison bonasus'') *

Asian 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 ...

(''Bubalus arnee'') *

Musk ox Musk (Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...

(''Ovibos moschatus)'' *

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 the no ...

(''Elephas maximus,'' from the

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 ...

) *

Steppe pika The steppe pika (''Ochotona pusilla'') is a small mammal of the pika family, Ochotonidae. It is found in the steppes of southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan. General description Ochotonidae includes only one genus - ''Ochotona'', formed by ...

(''Ochotona pusilla'') *

Great jerboa The great jerboa (''Allactaga major'') is a species of rodent in the family Dipodidae Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to li ...

(''Allactaga major'') *

(''Hippopotamus amphibius'') *

Northern bald ibis The northern bald ibis, hermit ibis, or waldrapp (''Geronticus eremita'') is a migratory bird found in barren, semi-desert or rocky habitats, often close to running water. This glossy black ibis, which, unlike many members of the ibis family, i ...

(''Geronticus eremita)'' * †

Great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, wh ...

(''Pinguinus impennis'') *

Snowy owl The snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus''), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mos ...

(''Bubo scandiacus'') *

Barbary macaque The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar. It is the type species of the ...

(''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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Of these, many genera extinctions can be reliably attributed to a brief interval of 11,500 to 10,000

radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

years

before present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...

, 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 ''Aphelops'' (Greek: "smooth" (apheles), "face" (ops), in a reference of lacking a horn) is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros endemic to North America. It lived from the Middle Miocene to the early Pliocene, during which it was a common com ...

'') and hyena (''

Chasmaporthetes ''Chasmaporthetes'', also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct genus of hyenas distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Africa during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about ...

''). 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 in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Other prominent paleontological sites documenting human expansion into North America can be found in Mexico and Panama, the crossroads of the American Interchange. North American extinctions (noted as

herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

(H) or

carnivores A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

(C)) included: * Various

spp. ** Most forms of Pleistocene

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

(only ''Bison bison'' in North America, and ''Bison bonasus'' in Eurasia, survived) ***

Ancient bison ''Bison antiquus'', the antique bison or ancient bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in Late Pleistocene North America until around 10,000 years ago. It was one of the most common large herbivores on the North American continent dur ...

(''Bison antiquus'') (H) *** Long-horned/Giant bison (''Bison latifrons'') (H) *** Steppe bison (''Bison priscus'') (H) *** ''

Bison occidentalis ''Bison occidentalis'' is an extinct species of bison that lived in North America, and in continental EurasiaC. G Van Zyll de Jong , 1986, A systematic study of recent bison, with particular consideration of the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae ...

'' (H) **

Wild yak The wild yak (''Bos mutus'') is a large, wild bovine native to the Himalayas. It is the ancestor of the domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''). Taxonomy The ancestor of the wild and domestic yak is thought to have diverged from ''Bos primigenius'' ...

(''Bos mutus''; extirpated) (H) ** Several members of ''

Caprinae The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine, or, more informally, a goat-antelope (a ...

'' (the

survived) *** Giant muskox (''Praeovibos priscus'') (H) *** Shrub-ox (''Euceratherium collinum'') (H) ***

Harlan's muskox ''Bootherium'' (Greek: "ox" (boos), "beast" (therion)) is an extinct bovid genus from the middle to late Pleistocene of North America which contains a single species, ''Bootherium bombifrons''.McKenna & Bell, 1997, p. 442. Vernacular names for ...

(''Bootherium bombifrons'') (H) *** Soergel's ox (''Soergelia mayfieldi'') (H) ***

Harrington's mountain goat Harrington's mountain goat (''Oreamnos harringtoni'') was a species of North American Goat-antelope, caprine that resided in the Southwest of the continent during the Pleistocene epoch. A relative of the modern mountain goat, which is the only ex ...

(''Oreamnos harringtoni''; smaller and more southern distribution than its surviving relative) (H) **

(''Saiga tatarica''; extirpated) (H) *

Stag-moose ''Cervalces scotti'', the elk moose or stag-moose, is an extinct species of large deer that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene epoch. It had palmate antlers that were more complex than those of a moose and a muzzle more closely re ...

(''Cervalces scotti'') (H) *

American mountain deer ''Odocoileus lucasi'' (historically ''Navahoceros fricki''), known commonly as the American mountain deer, is an extinct species of North American deer. Taxonomy Kurten described a species he called ''Navahoceros fricki'' in 1975. However, his ...

(''Odocoileus lucasi'') (H) * '' Torontoceros hypnogeos'' (H) * Various

Antilocapridae The Antilocapridae are a family of artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids with which they comprise the superfamily Giraffoidea. Only one species, the pronghorn (''Antilocapra americana''), is li ...

genera (

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

s survived) ** ''Capromeryx'' (H) ** ''

Stockoceros ''Stockoceros'' is an extinct genus of the North American artiodactyl family Antilocapridae (pronghorns), known from Mexico and the southwestern United States. Its horns are each divided near their base into two prongs of roughly equal length. T ...

'' (H) ** ''

Tetrameryx ''Tetrameryx'' is an extinct genus of the North American artiodactyl family Antilocapridae, known from Mexico, the western United States, and Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Cana ...

'' (H) ** Pacific pronghorn (''Antilocapra pacifica'') (H) * Several

peccary A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North A ...

(Tayassuidae) spp. **

Flat-headed peccary ''Platygonus compressus'', the flat-headed peccary, is an extinct mammal species from the Tayassuidae family, that lived in North-America during the Pleistocene. It was first described in 1848 by John L. Leconte. Description The flat-heade ...

(''Platygonus'') (H) **

Long-nosed peccary The long-nosed peccary (''Mylohyus nasutus'') is an extinct mammal species of the peccary family (Tayassuidae). It is one of two peccary-species that existed in the US-Midwest during the last ice age. Description The long-nosed peccary was a ...

(''Mylohyus'') (H) **

Collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ' ...

(''Dicotyles tajacu''; extirpated, range semi-recolonised) (H) (''Muknalia minimus'' is a junior synonym) * Various members of

Camelidae Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, ...

** Western camel (''Camelops hesternus'') (H) ** Stilt legged llamas (''Hemiauchenia'' ssp.) (H) ** Stout legged llamas (''Palaeolama'' ssp.) (H) * All native forms of

Equidae Equidae (sometimes known as the horse family) is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, asses, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus '' Equus'', ...

** ''

Equus alaskae ''Equus alaskae'' was a Pleistocene species of horse, now extinct, that inhabited North America. Fossils found from Alaska to Mexico have been identified as ''Equus alaskae,'' and it has been referred to as the most common equid in the southwest ...

'' (H) ** ''

Equus cedralensis Equus may refer to: * ''Equus'' (genus), a genus of animals including horses, donkeys and zebras * ''Equus'' (play), a play by Peter Shaffer * ''Equus'' (film), a film adaptation of the Peter Shaffer play * Equus (comics), a comic book characte ...

'' (H) ** Mexican horse (''Equus conversidens'') (H) ** '' Equus complicatus'' (H) ** '' Equus fraternus'' (H) ** Giant horse (H) **

(''Equus hemionus''; extirpated) (H) **

Kiang The kiang (''Equus kiang'') is the largest of the ''Asinus'' subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau, where it inhabits montane and alpine grasslands. Its current range is restricted to the plains of the Tibetan plateau; Ladakh; and north ...

(''Equus kiang''; extirpated) (H) **

Yukon horse ''Equus lambei'', common name, commonly known as the Yukon horse or Yukon wild horse, is an Extinction, extinct species of the genus ''Equus (genus), Equus''. ''Equus lambei'' ranged across North America until approximately 10,000 years ago. B ...

(''Equus lambei'') (H) ** '' Equus mexicanus'' (H) ** Niobrara horse (''Equus niobrarensis'') (H) ** Pacific horse (''Equus pacificus'') (H) ** Western horse (''Equus occidentalis'') (H) ** '' Equus semiplicatus'' (H) **

Hagerman horse The Hagerman horse (''Equus simplicidens''), also called the Hagerman zebra or the American zebra, was a North American species of equid from the Pliocene epoch and the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the oldest horses of the genus ''Equus'' and ...

(''Equus simplicidens'') (H) ** Scott's horse (''Equus scotti'') (H) ** Stilt-legged horse (''Haringtonhippus francisci'' / ''Equus francisci''; may be a synonym of Mexican horse) (H) * All members of North American

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...

(''

Tapirus ''Tapirus'' is a genus of tapir which contains the three living American tapir species. The Malayan tapir is usually included in ''Tapirus'' as well, although some authorities have moved it into its own genus, ''Acrocodia''. Extant species The ...

''; four species) ** California tapir (''Tapirus californicus'') (H) ** Merriam's tapir (''Tapirus merriami'') (H) ** Vero tapir (''Tapirus veroensis'') (H) * ''

Mixotoxodon ''Mixotoxodon'' ("mixture ''Toxodon''") is an extinct genus of notoungulate of the family Toxodontidae inhabiting South America, Central America and parts of southern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, from 1,800,000—12,000 years ago ...

'' (H) * An indeterminate

litoptern Litopterna (from grc, λῑτή πτέρνα "smooth heel") is an extinct order of fossil hoofed mammals from the Cenozoic era. The order is one of the five great orders of South American ungulates that were endemic to the continent, until th ...

from

México City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. * Several Felidae spp. ** North American saber-toothed cat (''Smilodon fatalis'') (C) ** North American scimitar cat (''Homotherium serum'') (C) **

American cheetah The American cheetah is either of two feline species of the extinct genus ''Miracinonyx'', endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago) and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah (''Acinonyx j ...

(''Miracinonyx''; not true cheetah) *** '' Miracinonyx inexpectatus'' (C) *** '' Miracinonyx trumani'' (C) **

Cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(''Puma concolor''; megafaunal

ecomorph Ecomorphology or ecological morphology is the study of the relationship between the ecological role of an individual and its morphological adaptations. The term "morphological" here is in the anatomical context. Both the morphology and ecology ex ...

extirpated from North America, South American populations recolonised former range) (C) **

Jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi'') is a wild cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central and South America east of the Andes. The jaguarundi is a medium-sized ...

(''Herpailurus yagouaroundi''; extirpated, range semi-recolonised) (C) **

Margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlif ...

(''Leopardus weidii''; extirpated) (C) **

Ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''; extirpated, range marginally recolonised) (C) **

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...

(''Lynx lynx''; extirpated) (C) ** Pleistocene North American jaguar (''Panthera onca augusta''; range semi-recolonised by other subspecies) (C) **

American lion ''Panthera atrox'', better known as the American lion, also called the North American lion, or American cave lion, is an extinct pantherine cat that lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch and the early Holocene epoch, about 340,0 ...

(''Panthera atrox''; endemic to North America after 340,000 BP) (C) ** Eurasian cave lion (''Panthera spelaea''; present only as far as modern day

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

(''Aenocyon dirus'') (C) *

Pleistocene coyote The Pleistocene coyote (''Canis latrans orcutti''), also known as the Ice Age coyote, is an extinct subspecies of coyote that lived in western North America during the Late Pleistocene era. Most remains of the subspecies were found in southern Ca ...

(''Canis latrans orcutti'') (C) *

Megafaunal wolf The Pleistocene wolf, also referred to as the Late Pleistocene wolf, is an extinct lineage or ecomorph of the gray wolf (''Canis lupus''). It was a Late Pleistocene – early Holocene hypercarnivore. While comparable in size to a large modern ...

e.g. **

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

(''Cuon alpinus''; extirpated) (C) * '' Protocyon troglodytes'' (C) *

Short-faced skunk ''Brachyprotoma obtusata'' (also known as the short-faced skunk) is an extinct genus of skunk of the Pleistocene epoch what is now North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the ...

(''Brachyprotoma obtusata'') (C) * Various

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

(Ursidae) spp. **

Arctodus simus ''Arctodus'' is an extinct genus of short-faced bear that inhabited North America during the Pleistocene (~2.5 Mya until 12,000 years ago). There are two recognized species: the lesser short-faced bear (''Arctodus pristinus'') and the giant short- ...

'' (C)'' ** Florida spectacled bear (''Tremarctos floridanus'') (C) ** 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'', or Stock's vampire bat, is an extinct species of vampire bat native to Pleistocene Florida, farther north than any living vampire bats. It weighed about 50% more than the common vampire bat The common vampire bat (''Desmo ...

(''Desmodus stocki'') (C) * All native spp. of

Proboscidea The Proboscidea (; , ) are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. From ...

American mastodon American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(''Mammut americanum'') (H) ** Pacific mastodon (''Mammut pacificus'') (H) **

Gomphotheriidae Gomphotheres are any members of the diverse, extinct taxonomic family Gomphotheriidae. Gomphotheres were elephant-like proboscideans, but do not belong to the family Elephantidae. They were widespread across Afro-Eurasia and North America during ...

spp. *** ''

Cuvieronius ''Cuvieronius'' is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere, named after the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. Alive, specimens typically stood about tall at the shoulder, weighed about and would have superficially resembled a modern elephant ...

'' (H) *** ''

Stegomastodon ''Stegomastodon'' ('roof breast tooth') is an extinct genus of gomphotheres, a family of proboscideans. It ranged throughout North America from the early Blancan ~4 Ma, to the early Irvingtonian (~1.2 Ma). The South American species have be ...

'' (H) **

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, ...

(''Mammuthus'') spp. ***

Columbian mammoth The Columbian mammoth (''Mammuthus columbi'') is an extinct species of mammoth that inhabited the Americas as far north as the Northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line ...

(''Mammuthus columbi'') (H) ***

Pygmy mammoth The pygmy mammoth or Channel Islands mammoth (''Mammuthus exilis'') is an extinct species of dwarf elephant descended from the Columbian mammoth (''M. columbi'') of mainland North America. This species became extinct during the Quaternary extin ...

(''Mammuthus exilis'') (H) ***

(''Mammuthus primigenius'') (H) * Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas''; extirpated in North America) (H) * Giant beaver (''Castoroides'') spp. ** ''

Castoroides ohioensis ''Castoroides'' (Latin: "beaver" (castor), "like" (oides)), or giant beaver, is an extinct genus of enormous, bear-sized beavers that lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Two species are currently recognized, ''C. dilophidus'' in the S ...

'' (H) ** '' Castoroides leiseyorum'' (H) * ''

Neochoerus ''Neochoerus'' ("new hog") is an extinct genus of rodent closely related to the living capybara. Fossil remains of ''Neochoerus'' have been found through North America (México and United States) and South America in Boyacá, Colombia C ...

'' spp. e.g. ** Pinckney's capybara (''Neochoerus pinckneyi'') (H) * Klein's porcupine (''Erethizon kleini'') (H) * All

giant hutia Heptaxodontidae, rarely called giant hutia, is an extinct family of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material found in the West Indies. One species, '' Amblyrhiza inundata'', is estimated to have weighed between , reaching the weigh ...

(Heptaxodontidae) spp. **

Blunt-toothed giant hutia The blunt-toothed giant hutia (''Amblyrhiza inundata'') is an extinct species of giant hutia from Anguilla and Saint Martin (island), Saint Martin that is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg (110 and 440 lb). It was discover ...

(''Amblyrhiza inundata''; could grow as large as an

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

) (H) ** Plate-toothed giant hutia (''Elasmodontomys obliquus'') (H) **

Twisted-toothed mouse The twisted-toothed mouse (''Quemisia gravis''), also known as the twisted-toothed giant hutia is an extinct species of rodent in the family Heptaxodontidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Quemisia''. It was endemic to Hispaniola (today Hait ...

(''Quemisia gravis'') (H) **

Osborn's key mouse Osborn's key mouse (''Clidomys osborni''), also known as the larger Jamaican giant hutia, is a now extinct species of large rodent in the family Heptaxodontidae. It was found on the island of Jamaica and likely became extinct before the end of th ...

(''Clidomys osborn's'') (H) ** '' Xaymaca fulvopulvis'' (H) * Aztlan rabbit (''Aztlanolagus'' sp.) (H) * Webb's marsh rabbit (''Sylvilagus webbi'') (H) * Giant pika (''Ochotona whartoni'') (H) * All members of the Antilles monkeys (''Xenotrichini'') **

Jamaican monkey The Jamaican monkey (''Xenothrix mcgregori'') is an extinct species of New World monkey that was endemic to Jamaica. It was first uncovered at Long Mile Cave by Harold Anthony in 1920. Discovery Harold Anthony is responsible for many species ...

(''Xenothrix mcgregori'') (H) **

Cuban monkey ''Paralouatta'' is a platyrrhine genus that currently contains two extinct species of small primates that lived on the island of Cuba. Description ''Paralouatta varonai'' was described from a nearly complete cranium from the late Quaternary ...

(''Paralouatta'') (H) ** Hispaniola monkey (''Antillothrix bernensis'') (H) ** '' Insulacebus toussaintiana'' (H) *

Giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecopha ...

(''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''; extirpated, range partially recolonised) (C) * All remaining

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbe ...

spp. ** ''

Eremotherium ''Eremotherium'' (from Greek for "steppe" or "desert beast": ἔρημος "steppe or desert" and θηρίον "beast") is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth, in the family Megatheriidae, the largest and most heavily built family of sloths. ' ...

'' (

megatheriid Megatheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago. Megatheriids appeared during the Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the SALMA classification), some 29 million years ago, in South Amer ...

ground sloth) (H) ** ''

Nothrotheriops ''Nothrotheriops'' is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous '' Megatheriu ...

'' (

nothrotheriid Nothrotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 17.5 mya—10,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Previously placed within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, they ...

ground sloth) (H) **

Megalonychid Megalonychidae is an extinct family of sloths including the extinct ''Megalonyx''. Megalonychids first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years (Ma) ago, in southern Argentina (Patagonia). There is actually one possible find dating ...

ground sloth spp. *** ''

Megalonyx ''Megalonyx'' (Greek, "large claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. It became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event at the end of the ...

'' (H) *** ''

Nohochichak ''Nohochichak'' is an extinct genus of megalonychid ground sloth from the Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Discovery and taxonomy The only known specimens were discovered in the underwater cave ...

'' (H) *** '' Xibalbaonyx'' (H) ** Megalocnid Greater Antillean dwarf ground sloth spp. (some were probably at least partly arboreal) *** ''

Acratocnus ''Acratocnus'' is an extinct genus of ground sloths that were found on Cuba, Hispaniola (today the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico. Classification Like all of the Antillean sloths, ''Acratocnus'' was formerly thought on the bas ...

'' (H) *** '' Habanocnus'' (H) *** ''

Megalocnus ''Megalocnus'' ("great sloth" in Greek) is a genus of extinct large ground sloths that were native to Cuba during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. They were among the largest of the Caribbean sloths (Megalocnidae), with individuals estimate ...

'' (H) *** '' Miocnus'' (H) *** ''

Neocnus ''Neocnus'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth, whose species ranged across Cuba and Hispaniola (today split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic). ''Neocnus'' would have resembled a typical ground sloth, though much smaller, with a lon ...

'' (H) **

Mylodontid Mylodontidae is a family of extinct South American and North American ground sloths within the suborder Folivora of order Pilosa, living from around 23 million years ago (Mya) to 11,000 years ago. This family is most closely related to another fa ...

ground sloth spp. *** ''

Paramylodon ''Paramylodon'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Mylodontidae endemic to North America during the Pliocene through Pleistocene epochs, living from around ~4.9 Mya–11,000 years ago. It is also known as Harlan's ground sloth. ...

'' (H) *** ''

Glossotherium ''Glossotherium'' is an extinct genus of mylodontid ground sloths of the subfamily Mylodontinae, which includes large ground-dwelling sloths. It represents one of the best known members of the family, along with ''Mylodon'' and ''Paramylodon''. ...

'' (H) * All members of

Glyptodontidae Glyptodonts are an extinct subfamily of large, heavily armoured armadillos. They arose in South America around 48 million years ago and spread to southern North America after the continents became connected several million years ago. The best- ...

** '' Glyptotherium'' (H) ** ''

Pachyarmatherium ''Pachyarmatherium'' is a genus of extinct large armadillo-like cingulates found in North and South America from the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, related to the extant armadillos and the extinct pampatheres and glyptodonts. It was presen ...

'' (H) *

Beautiful armadillo ''Dasypus bellus'', the beautiful armadillo, is an extinct armadillo species endemic to North America and South America from the Pleistocene, living from 1.8 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Slightly larger than its living ...

(''Dasypus bellus'') (H) * All

Pampatheriidae Pampatheriidae ("Pampas beasts") is an extinct family of large plantigrade armored armadillos related to extant armadillos in the order Cingulata. However, pampatheriids have existed as a separate lineage since at least the middle Eocene Muster ...

spp. e.g. ** ''

Holmesina ''Holmesina'' is a genus of pampathere, an extinct group of armadillo-like creatures that were distantly related to extant armadillos. Like armadillos, and unlike the other extinct branch of megafaunal cingulates, the glyptodonts, the shell wa ...

'' (H) ** ''

Pampatherium ''Pampatherium'' is an extinct genus of xenarthran that lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene. Some species went extinct right at the Pleistocene-Holocene border. Distribution ''Pampatherium humboldtii'' and ''P. typum'' lived in South Ame ...

'' (H) * Bermuda flightless duck (''Anas pachyscelus'') (H) * Californian flightless sea duck (''Chendytes lawi'') (C) * Mexican stiff-tailed duck (''Oxyura zapatima'') (H) *

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

(''Meleagris'') spp. ** Californian turkey (''Meleagris californica'') (H) ** ''Meleagris crassipes'' (H) * Various

Gruiformes The Gruiformes are an order (biology), order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird family (biology), families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and t ...

spp. ** All cave rail (''Nesotrochis'') spp. e.g. *** Antillean cave rail (''Nesotrochis debooyi'') (C) ** Barbados rail (

Incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

) (C) ** Cuban flightless crane (''Antigone cubensis'') (H) ** La Brea crane (''Grus pagei'') (H) * Various

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

(Phoenicopteridae) spp. ** Minute flamingo (''Phoenicopterus minutus'') (C) ** Cope's flamingo (''Phoenicopterus copei'') (C) * Dow's puffin (''Fratercula dowi'') (C) * Pleistocene Mexican diver spp. **'' Plyolimbus baryosteus'' (C) ** ''

Podiceps ''Podiceps'' is a genus of birds in the grebe family. The genus name comes from Latin ''podicis'', "rear-end" and ''ped'', "foot", and is a reference to the placement of a grebe's legs towards the rear of its body. It has representatives breed ...

'' spp. ***'' Podiceps parvus'' (C) * La Brea/Asphalt stork (''Ciconia maltha'') (C) * Wetmore's stork (''Mycteria wetmorei'') (C) * Pleistocene Mexican

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s spp. (genus ''

Phalacrocorax ''Phalacrocorax'' is a genus of fish-eating birds in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. Members of this genus are also known as the Old World cormorants. Taxonomy The genus ''Phalacrocorax'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin ...

'') **'' Phalacrocorax goletensis'' (C) ** '' Phalacrocorax chapalensis'' (C) * Jamaican ibis (''Xenicibis xympithecus'') (C) * All remaining

teratorn Teratornithidae is an extinct family of very large birds of prey that lived in North and South America from the Late Oligocene to the Late Pleistocene. They include some of the largest known flying birds. Taxonomy Teratornithidae are related ...

(Teratornithidae) spp. ** ''Aiolornis incredibilis'' (C) ** ''Cathartornis gracilis'' (C) ** ''Oscaravis olsoni'' (C) ** ''Teratornis merriami'' (C) ** ''Teratornis woodburnensis'' (C) * Several

New World vultures The New World vulture or condor family, Cathartidae, contains seven extant species in five genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. The "New World" vultures were widespread ...

(Cathartidae) spp. ** Pleistocene black vulture (''Coragyps occidentalis'' ssp.) (C) ** Megafaunal Californian condor (''Gymnogyps amplus'') (C) ** Clark's condor (''Breagyps clarki'') (C) ** Cuban condor (''Gymnogyps varonai'') (C) * Several

Accipitridae The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-s ...

spp. ** American neophrone vulture (''Neophrontops americanus'') (C) **

Woodward's eagle Woodward's eagle (''Buteogallus woodwardi'') is an extinct species of eagle that lived in North America and the Caribbean during the Late Pleistocene. It is one of the largest birds of prey ever found, with an estimated total length , slightly ...

(''Amplibuteo woodwardi'') (C) ** Cuban great hawk (''Buteogallus borrasi'') (C) ** Daggett's eagle (''Buteogallus daggetti'') (C) ** Fragile eagle (''Buteogallus fragilis'') (C) ** Cuban giant hawk (''Gigantohierax suarezi'') (C) ** Errant eagle (''Neogyps errans'') (C) ** Grinnell's crested eagle (''Spizaetus grinnelli'') (C) ** Willett's hawk-eagle (''Spizaetus willetti'') (C) ** Caribbean titan hawk (''Titanohierax'') (C) * Several

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

(Strigiformes) spp. ** Brea miniature owl (''Asphaltoglaux'') (C) ** Kurochkin's pygmy owl (''Glaucidium kurochkini'') (C) ** Brea owl (''Oraristix brea'') (C) ** Cuban giant owl (''Ornimegalonyx'') (C) *

Bermuda flicker The Bermuda flicker (''Colaptes oceanicus'') is an extinct woodpecker from the genus ''Colaptes''. It was confined to Bermuda and is known only by fossil remains dated to the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. However, an old travel report by exp ...

(''Colaptes oceanicus'') (C) * Several caracara (Caracarinae) spp. ** Bahaman terrestrial caracara ('' Caracara'' sp.) (C) ** Puerto Rican terrestrial caracara ('' Caracara'' sp.) (C) ** Jamaican caracara (''Carcara tellustris'') (C) ** Cuban caracara (''

Milvago ''Milvago'' is a genus of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. Species ''Milvago'' contains two extant species: They are native to South America and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, with ''M. chimachima'' just reaching to the Isthm ...

'' sp.) (C) ** Hispaniolan caracara (''

'' sp.) (C) *

Saint Croix macaw The St. Croix macaw (''Ara autocthones'') or Puerto Rican macaw, is an extinct species of macaw whose remains have been found on the Caribbean islands of St. Croix and Puerto Rico. It was described in 1937 based on a tibiotarsus leg bone uneart ...

(''Ara autocthones'') (H) * Mexican thick-billed parrot (''Rhynchopsitta phillipsi'') (H) * Puerto Rican crow (''Corvus pumilis'') (C) * Several giant tortoise spp. ** ''

Hesperotestudo ''Hesperotestudo'' ("Western turtle") is an extinct genus of tortoise native to North and Central America from the Oligocene to the Late Pleistocene. Species of ''Hesperotesudo'' varied widely in size, with the largest unnamed species from El Sal ...

'' (H) ** ''

Gopherus ''Gopherus'' is a genus of fossorial tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America. A genetic study has shown that their closest relat ...

'' spp. *** '' Gopherus donlaloi'' (H) ** ''

Chelonoidis ''Chelonoidis'' is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies. The multiple subspecies of t ...

'' spp. *** '' Chelonoidis marcanoi'' (H) *** ''

Chelonoidis alburyorum ''Chelonoidis alburyorum'' is an extinct species of land tortoise that lived from the late Pleistocene to around 1400 CE. The species was discovered and described by Richard Franz and Shelley E. Franz, the findings being published in 2009. Name ...

'' (H) The survivors are in some ways as significant as the losses:

(H), grey wolf (C), lynx (C),

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

(C),

(e.g.

caribou 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 subspe ...

, moose, wapiti (elk), ''

Odocoileus ''Odocoileus'' is a genus of medium-sized deer (family Cervidae) containing three species native to the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South Am ...

'' spp.) (H),

(H),

white-lipped peccary The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central America, Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar ...

(H),

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

(H), and

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

(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 The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(C),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

(C),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecopha ...

(C),

collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ' ...

(H),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi'') is a wild cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central and South America east of the Andes. The jaguarundi is a medium-sized ...

(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 ''Bison antiquus'', the antique bison or ancient bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in Late Pleistocene North America until around 10,000 years ago. It was one of the most common large herbivores on the North American continent dur ...

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 people (''q.v.''), who were thought to use

spear throwers A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Classical Nahuatl, Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in Dart (missile), dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a Plain bearing, b ...

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 scenario Climate change scenarios or socioeconomic scenarios are projections of future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions used by analysts to assess future vulnerability to climate change. Scenarios and pathways are created by scientists to survey any long ...

s 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 The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

was affected by the fact that

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

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 Great American Interchange about 3 million years ago, such as the ''

Sparassodonta Sparassodonta (from Ancient Greek, Greek to tear, rend; and , gen.

, ' The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...

tooth) is an extinct order (biology), order of carnivore, carnivorous metatherian mammals native to South America, related to modern marsupials. They were once con ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. Those that survived the interchange included the

glyptodonts Glyptodonts are an extinct subfamily of large, heavily armoured armadillos. They arose in South America around 48 million years ago and spread to southern North America after the continents became connected several million years ago. The best-k ...

s, pampatheres,

phorusrhacids Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal ...

(terror birds) and

notoungulates Notoungulata is an extinct order of mammalian ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the Holocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms resemb ...

; 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 The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, 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 Formation Luján, Luxan or Luhan, a Spanish people, Spanish surname and given name, might refer to: Tony Lujan Jazz musician.Composer Artist Trumpet And Flughelhorn Born 1956 Albuquerque NM. World Renowned. Extensive Resume. N M Music Hall Of Fame 2020 Ove ...

alone. Ultimately, by the mid-Holocene, all the preeminent genera of megafauna became extinct- the last specimens of ''

Doedicurus ''Doedicurus'', or ''Dædicurus'', is an extinct genus of glyptodont from South America containing one species, ''D. clavicaudatus''. Glyptodonts are a member of the family Chlamyphoridae, which also includes some modern armadillo species, ...

'' and ''

Toxodon ''Toxodon'' (meaning "bow tooth" in reference to the curvature of the teeth) is an extinct genus of South American mammals from the Late Miocene to early Holocene epochs (Mayoan to Lujanian in the SALMA classification) (about 11.6 million to 11 ...

'' have been dated to 4,555 BCE and 3,000 BCE respectively. Their smaller relatives remain, including

anteater Anteater is a common name for the four extant mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with ...

s, tree sloths,

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

s; New World marsupials:

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...

shrew opossum The family Caenolestidae contains the seven surviving species of shrew opossum: small, shrew-like marsupials that are confined to the Andes mountains of South America. The order is thought to have diverged from the ancestral marsupial line very e ...

s, and the

monito del monte The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, ''Dromiciops gliroides'', also called ''chumaihuén'' in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient ...

(actually more related to Australian marsupials). Intense human habitation was established circa 11,000 BCE, however partly disputed evidence of

pre-clovis The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 a ...

habitation occurs since 46,000 BCE and 20,000 BCE, such as at the

Serra da Capivara National Park Serra da Capivara National Park (Portuguese: ''Parque Nacional Serra da Capivara'', , locally ) is a national park in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The area has many prehistoric paintings. The name of the mountain range that defines the p ...

(Brazil) and

Monte Verde Monte Verde is an archaeological site in the Llanquihue Province in southern Chile, located near Puerto Montt, Southern Chile, which has been dated to as early as 18,500 cal BP (16,500 BC). Previously, the widely accepted date for early occup ...

(Chile) sites. Today the largest land mammals remaining in South America are the wild camels of the ''

Lamini Lamini (members are called ''laminoids'') is a tribe of the subfamily Camelinae. It contains one extant genus with four species, all exclusively from South America: llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos. The former two are domesticated specie ...

'' group, such as the

guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco g ...

s and

vicuña The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which live ...

s, and the genus ''

Tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...

us'', of which

Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, as ...

can reach up to 400 kg. Other notable surviving large fauna are

peccaries A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North A ...

marsh deer The marsh deer (''Blastocerus dichotomus'') is the largest deer species from South America reaching a length of and a shoulder height of . It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Formerly found in much of tropical ...

(''

Capreolinae The Capreolinae, Odocoileinae, or the New World deer are a subfamily of deer. Alternatively, they are known as the telemetacarpal deer, due to their bone structure being different from the plesiometacarpal deer subfamily Cervinae. The telemetac ...

''),

s, spectacled bears,

maned wolves The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of foxes, but it is neither a fox nor a w ...

, pumas,

rheas The rheas ( ), also known as ñandus ( ) or South American ostriches, are large ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, distantly related to the ostrich and emu. Most tax ...

emerald tree boa The emerald tree boa (''Corallus caninus'')Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . is a boa species found in the rainforests of South America. Since 2009 the species ''Corallus batesii' ...

boa constrictor The boa constrictor (scientific name also ''Boa constrictor''), also called the red-tailed boa, is a species of large, non-venomous, heavy-bodied snake that is frequently kept and bred in captivity. The boa constrictor is a member of the family B ...

anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus '' Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used ...

American crocodile The American crocodile (''Crocodylus acutus'') is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts ...

caimans A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America fro ...

, and giant rodents such as

capybaras The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...

. * Several

Cervidae 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 reindeer ...

spp. ** ''

Morenelaphus ''Morenelaphus'' is an extinct genus of deer that lived in South America during the Late Pleistocene. Fossils of the genus have been recovered from the Agua Blanca, Fortín Tres Pozos and Luján Formations of Argentina, the Ñuapua Formation ...

'' ** ''

Antifer ''Antifer'' is an extinct genus of large herbivorous deer of the family (biology), family Cervidae, endemic to South America during the Pleistocene, living from 2.6 Annum, Ma to 13,000 years ago and existing for approximately .

'' ** '' Agalmaceros blicki'' ** ''

salinae'' * Various

spp. ** '' Eulamaops'' ** Stilt legged llama ''

Hemiauchenia ''Hemiauchenia'' is a genus of laminoid camelids that evolved in North America in the Miocene period about 10 million years ago. This genus diversified and moved to South America in the Early Pleistocene, as part of the Great American Biotic In ...

'' ** Stout legged llama ''

Palaeolama ''Palaeolama'' () is an extinct genus of laminoid camelid that existed from the Late Pliocene to the Early Holocene (). Their range extended from North America to the intertropical region of South America. Description ''Palaeolama'' were relat ...

'' * All Pleistocene wild horse genera (

) ** ''Equus'' (''

Amerhippus ''Amerhippus'' is an extinct South American horse of uncertain taxonomic identity. It is sometimes classified as a subgenus of the genus '' Equus'', containing several extinct species of horses that lived in South America, or a single, morphologi ...

'') *** ''Equus andium'' *** ''Equus insulatus'' *** ''Equus neogeus'' ** ''

Hippidion ''Hippidion'' (meaning ''little horse'') is an extinct genus of Equinae, equine that lived in South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian), between two million and 11,000 years ago. They were one of two linea ...

'' (''

Onohippidium ''Hippidion'' (meaning ''little horse'') is an extinct genus of equine that lived in South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene ( Lujanian), between two million and 11,000 years ago. They were one of two lineages of ...

'') *** ''Hippidion devillei'' *** ''Hippidion principale'' *** ''Hippidion saldiasi'' * All remaining

Meridiungulata South American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals of controversial affinities that were indigenous to South America prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. They comprise five major groups co ...

genera ** Litopterna spp. *** ''Macrauchenia'' *** ''Macraucheniopsis'' *** Proterotheriidae spp. e.g. **** (''Neolicaphrium, Neolicaphrium recens'') *** ''Xenorhinotherium'' ** Notoungulata spp. *** ''Hegetotheriidae spp.'' *** ''Mesotheriidae spp.'' *** ''

'' *** ''

'' * Several Felidae 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. ** ''

'' ** ''Notiomastodon, Notiomastodon/Haplomastodon'' * ''

'' * All remaining

genera ** Megatheriidae spp. *** ''

'' *** Megatherium, Giant ground sloth ** Nothrotheriidae spp. *** ''Nothropus'' *** ''Nothrotherium'' ** Megalonychidae spp. *** ''Ahytherium'' *** ''Australonyx'' *** ''Diabolotherium'' *** ''Megistonyx'' *** ''Proplatyarthrus'' *** ''Valgipes'' ** Mylodontidae spp. *** ''Catonyx'' *** ''

'' *** ''Lestodon'' *** ''Mylodon'' *** ''Nematherium'' *** ''Octomylodon'' *** ''Orophodon'' *** ''Scelidotherium'' *** ''Scelidodon'' * All remaining Glyptodontinae spp. ** ''

'' ** ''Eleutherocercus'' ** ''Glyptodon, Glyptodon/Chlamydotherium'' ** ''Heteroglyptodon'' ** ''Hoplophorus'' ** ''Lomaphorus'' ** ''Neosclerocalyptus'' ** ''Neuryurus'' ** ''Panochthus'' ** ''Parapanochthus'' ** ''Plaxhaplous'' ** ''Sclerocalyptus'' * Several Dasypodidae spp. ** Beautiful armadillo (''Dasypus bellus'') ** ''Eutatus'' ** ''

'' ** ''Propaopus'' * All

spp. ** ''

'' (et ''Chlamytherium occidentale'') ** ''

'' ** ''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

") * 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 mammoth steppe. 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 Antilles 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