Decline of Megafauna Due to Climate

Some experts when pointing to the decline of megafauna instinctively point the finger at human interaction as the cause. After all, they point out, don’t we find human spear points buried in the bones of long dead mammoths?

When real data is consulted, it turns out that the climate is the culprit, at least in Australia.

(Source: Peter Schouten/UNSW)

There is no evidence to support the idea that humans were primarily responsible for wiping out the extraordinary gigantic animals that once roamed Australia, says a group of Australian and US scientists…

The paper’s authors say there is only firm evidence for about 8 to 14 megafauna species still existing when Aboriginal people arrived. Another 50 species were completely absent from the fossil record of the past 130,000 years…

“There is very strong evidence that climate had a major role in the extinction process, and we have no evidence that humans had a major impact,” says study author Judith Field, an archaeologist from the University of NSW.

Since we have had so much climate research here in the US, would it be possible to perform a study along the same lines and put this controversy to bed already?

Have a great day.