Diprotodon optatum also known as the giant wombat was the largest marsupial know. The oldest fossils of the giant wombat are from the plicoene deposit in Fishermans Cliff, New South Wales. The Giant wombat became extinct 250,000 years ago. Exact reasons for the extinction of Diprotodon remain unclear. It seems to have co-existed with Aboriginal people for over 20,000 years, so the 'blitzkrieg ' model (extinction upon the arrival of humans) does not hold for Diprotodon.…
The arrival of human populations on Australia led to the extinction of large mammal populations. There are many possible predictions about what may have happened to the animals on that continent. One theory is that they were killed off by the first humans who arrived in Australia. In the text it claims, “Just as modern humans walked up to unafraid dodos and island seals and killed them, prehistoric humans presumably walked up to the unafraid moas and giant lemurs and killed them too” (Diamond 42). Around this time period, the initial poor hunting skills of humans were slowly improving as well as the weapons they were using. When discovering the new land and the things on it, the humans there were alarmed.…
There are two living groups: The platypuses and the echidnas. The only Cretaceous mammal known for Australia is also a monotreme, Steropodon galmani, a platypus-like animal that might be more appropriately placed in a family of its own.…
Also due to fires that have occurred because of intentional reasons to destroy a certain area to allow space for urban development. Another major issue that has contributed to the declining number of M.fasciatus has been natural fire and cyclones that have occurred which was resulted in habitat loss for the specie. Another reason for the reduction in population size and distribution has been attributed to the introduction of the European red fox Vulpes and also feral cats which prey on the M.fasciatus (Australian wildlife society,…
Smilodon is thought to have killed its prey by holding it still with its forelimbs and biting it, but it is unclear in what manner the bite itself was delivered. Scientists debate whether Smilodon had a social or a solitary lifestyle; analysis of modern predator behavior as well as of Smilodon's fossil remains could be construed to lend support to either view. Smilodon probably lived in closed habitats such as forests and bush, which would have provided cover for ambushing prey. Smilodon died out at the same time that most North and South American megafauna disappeared, about 10,000 years ago. Its reliance on large animals has been proposed as the cause of its extinction, along with climate change and competition with other species, but the exact cause is…
When people hear the word extinction, they think of the word that they have been hearing since they were small toddlers. When this word is heard most refer to the dinosaurs becoming extinct. In the book the sixth extinction it mentions how…
Scientists have discovered the truth behind many mysteries. One of the mysteries yet to be uncovered is the Mega-beasts, the creatures that roamed North America during the Ice Age, 13,000 years ago. An example of Mega-beasts are the Saber-Toothed Tiger,Woolly Mammoth, and Giant Sloth. There are three main theories as to how the Mega-beasts went extinct. They are as follows: 1.) The Clovis People killed them all off for food. 2.) They died due to the sudden climate change. 3.) A comet wiped them all out.…
The Minoans were an advanced civilisation, ready to take on the world. But their progressive empire was brought to a sudden end, their demise unknown to many archaeologists and scientists alike, UNTIL NOW.…
There are many theories on how dinosaurs became extinct but scientists have not yet found a proven reason why. About sixty-five million years ago Dinosauriformes, or as we call them Dinosaurs, walked and roamed planet Earth. These massive carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores lived many years on earth before humans appeared. There were several variations of dinosaurs such as land, sea, and air dinosaurs. For a millions of years the dinosaurs thrived in their environment. They had an abundant food supply to eat and they had ample space to roam and reproduce offspring. Unfortunately the dinosaurs did not last forever since they all mysteriously became extinct. Three of the main theories on how dinosaurs became extinct are climate changes, an asteroid impact, and massive volcanos erupting.…
Four of the five past mass extinction events are related with warm greenhouse phases. During the End-Permian extinction event, the largest of all mass extinctions, 95 percent of animal and plant species were destroyed, which occurred through one of the warmest-ever climate phases. If global warming increases, which is very likely, our planet could have extreme threats against our species.…
The spread of humans especially impacted the wildlife in the areas such as the Americas and Australia, where animals had the least time co-evolving alongside with humans. The smoking gun of the Quaternary extinction lies within the vegetation. The Last Glacial Maximum cut out a lot of the protein-rich forbs and it wasn’t as abundant…
The word mega in megafauna means huge and fauna means animals. When you put it together it means huge animals which is what megafauna were. Most megafauna were over 40kg and 30% bigger then their relatives who are alive today. They’ve existed for over 11 million years but then disappeared in a mass extinction 46,000 years ago. There are several ideas of how they became extinct which includes the ill, kill and chill factors. Ill being a disease which infected the megafauna and ultimately killed them off. Kill is where humans come in and hunt down the megafauna until extinction. Finally chill is climate change, which means megafauna couldn’t handle the change in climate.…
There are many things to consider if the Pleistocene re-wilding is to take place. The two main goals of Pleistocene re-wilding are to prevent the extinction of the extant megafauna in Africa and Asia and to restore the evolutionary and ecological potential of megafauna in North America. Some problems that hang over the re-wilding process are genetics, land availability, and the negative impacts that the new megafauna could pose on the existing ecosystems. Donlan et al, 2005, justifies “Pleistocene re-wilding” on ethical and aesthetic grounds. They aim to rebuild an entire ecosystem with African and Asian megafauna that range over different tropic levels. Rubenstein et al, 2006 concludes that resources would be better spent on conserving endangered megafauna in their native habitats and reintroducing them into areas where they have only recently been wiped…
For over 150 million years, dinosaurs dominated Earth. They were incredibly successful-so successful in fact that all of the other animal groups had no choice but to play a secondary role in nature. 65 million years ago, however, every species of dinosaur went extinct as well mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites, and many families of brachiopods and sea sponges. Also, many shark species as well as most vegetation did not survive(“Dinosaur Extinction”). What could have possibly killed off the dominant animal group of the time? The answer to this question is still unclear but there are many hypotheses that attempt to explain this extinction event. To find out exactly how this happened, evidence must be gathered not only from fossils…
The exact reason for the Pleistocene extinction is still not known, this data implies that top-down forces and humans are the reason the extinction happened. This data is important because during the Anthropocene humans continue to put animals at risk for another extinction. The authors used data from the Pleistocene and recent data to show that high rates of predation and humans could have lead to the extinction. Both carnivores and humans caused the extinction, because both were competing for prey which lead to a lower percentage of megafauna.…