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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tasmanian megafauna extinction: man-made
That is what a team of researchers has concluded after re-dating the last known large animal remains of the Australian island: it happened after humans had arrived (c. 43,000 BP) and in a context of climatic stability. Giant kangaroos and marsupial lions were among the exterminated species.
Source: BBC: Extinction 'by man, not climate'.
Another, maybe better, article can be found in Science Daily: Humans Implicated In Prehistoric Animal Extinctions With New Evidence.
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3 comments:
Thanks Maju. I'll bet there will still be those who maintain humans had nothing to do with extinctions in North America though.
I've been maintaining for years that we can date modern human expansion around the world by looking at extinctions. Hence the question on Dienekes about human arrival in the more isolated islands in the Mediterranean. I have even read that there were extinctions in Africa completed by about 60,000 years ago. I am especially interested in possible megafauna extinctions in India as I believe this will reveal a great deal about ancient human expansion.
The big article is especially good. Tim Flannery has a couple of books on the subject you may be interested in. "The Future Eaters" deals with Australia and New Zealand but I think you'd find "The Eternal Frontier" much more in line with your interests. He looks at US history from the long perspective, from the end of the Cretaceous to today. He believes modern US attitudes are a product of their environment.
I am especially interested in possible megafauna extinctions in India as I believe this will reveal a great deal about ancient human expansion.
I've gathered that several megafauna species were extinct or expereinced retreat in Tropical Asia more or less simultaneously (while others still survive, like the Asian elephant, tiger and even lion). I could not gather yet the date for that extinction/retreat of most of the species but one of them, Gigantopithecus blacki, apparently died out some 100,000 years ago (according to Wikipedia, unsourced - though another article mentions 300,000 BP instead).
If the 100,000 date can be confirmed for the other species, my work hypothesis of OOA happening as early as c. 100,000 BP or even before, would gain extra support.
The affected species are:
- Stegodon sp.
- Gigantopithecus blacki
- Megatapirus augustus (a giant tapir)
- Manis paleojavanica (a large pangolin)
Additionally orangutans and giant pandas seem to have experienced major rereats in the same undefined period.
Ref. http://www.atbio.org/tn_v17_n3_Sept_2006.pdf
I have even read that there were extinctions in Africa completed by about 60,000 years ago.
That would correspond to a relatively late human expansion, maybe that of Y-DNA E clan?
Thanks for that information. I believe the pattern of extinctions must be included in the overall package of evidence.
"If the 100,000 date can be confirmed for the other species, my work hypothesis of OOA happening as early as c. 100,000 BP or even before, would gain extra support".
Exactly. And I agree that the date for the last round of extinctions in Africa "would correspond to a relatively late human expansion, maybe that of Y-DNA E clan".
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