Quaternary Extinction Event
Causes For The Quaternary Extinction Event
The quaternary extinction event happened about 10,000–40,000 years ago. This even is when megafaunal animals went extinct. This event saw the extinction of more than 178 species. Megafaunals are defined as “A term generally used to refer to the largest animals present within an ecosystem, most often used with respect to the array of large-bodied species which suffered extinction during the Quaternary. A strict definition refers to animal species weighing more than 44kg(Surovell,3)”. Megafaunals lived around the time of the ice age. Megafaunal animals include woolly mammoths, sabertooth cats and giant ground sloths. There are two theories as to why they went extinct. The first theory is that they went …show more content…
When humans first crossed the Beringia land bridge, they were in a place full of animals that have never experienced humans before. Megafaunals are mainly very large and slow moving animals which made it very easy for humans to hunt them. Due to the fact that they were so easy to hunt, humans were able to hunt them with minimal effort. Because they were being hunted so often, they were unable to reproduce quick enough in order to build their species and keep up with the humans. “This abundance of food stimulated human population growth, which hastened the megafauna extinctions. That hunting was a key factor in causing the extinctions is suggested by finds of kill sites where huge heaps of bones have been discovered at the base of cliffs, over which stampeded herds seem to have been driven“(Whyte,1)”. The humans took full advantage of the new found food source. They used their hunting skills to actually herd animals to their death to maximize their food supply. With a growing human population, there was more of a demand for food. The megafaunals were there in abundance for the humans to hunt. Humans had a hand in the megafaunal extinction because “The argument is simply that prehistoric human hunting dramatically modified animal communities, and had humans not colonized the planet, most of the species that suffered extinction during the Pleistocene and Holocene would still exist today”(Surovell,2). Therefore, megafaunals dwindled down over the years until they eventually went
The quaternary extinction event happened about 10,000–40,000 years ago. This even is when megafaunal animals went extinct. This event saw the extinction of more than 178 species. Megafaunals are defined as “A term generally used to refer to the largest animals present within an ecosystem, most often used with respect to the array of large-bodied species which suffered extinction during the Quaternary. A strict definition refers to animal species weighing more than 44kg(Surovell,3)”. Megafaunals lived around the time of the ice age. Megafaunal animals include woolly mammoths, sabertooth cats and giant ground sloths. There are two theories as to why they went extinct. The first theory is that they went …show more content…
When humans first crossed the Beringia land bridge, they were in a place full of animals that have never experienced humans before. Megafaunals are mainly very large and slow moving animals which made it very easy for humans to hunt them. Due to the fact that they were so easy to hunt, humans were able to hunt them with minimal effort. Because they were being hunted so often, they were unable to reproduce quick enough in order to build their species and keep up with the humans. “This abundance of food stimulated human population growth, which hastened the megafauna extinctions. That hunting was a key factor in causing the extinctions is suggested by finds of kill sites where huge heaps of bones have been discovered at the base of cliffs, over which stampeded herds seem to have been driven“(Whyte,1)”. The humans took full advantage of the new found food source. They used their hunting skills to actually herd animals to their death to maximize their food supply. With a growing human population, there was more of a demand for food. The megafaunals were there in abundance for the humans to hunt. Humans had a hand in the megafaunal extinction because “The argument is simply that prehistoric human hunting dramatically modified animal communities, and had humans not colonized the planet, most of the species that suffered extinction during the Pleistocene and Holocene would still exist today”(Surovell,2). Therefore, megafaunals dwindled down over the years until they eventually went