[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
Re: mass extinction
At 11:18 AM +1000 3/21/06, Dann Pigdon wrote:
>
>In cases like New Zealand, megafaunal extinction was very rapid after the
>introduction of feral primates, and their activities can probably be blamed.
>However in other areas (like Australia) where there was a long coexistance
>(tens of thousands of years), those pesky primates certainly weren't the sole
>reason for megafaunal extinction. They may not even have been the main
>reason.
I have seen claims that the last fossils of various Australian critters -- I
think the shells of extinct flightless birds -- dated from the same time as the
first evidence of some human activities, probably controlled burning. But I
agree Australia is not an easy case to prove. The Americas are a different
matter - the megafauna went out almost immediately after the Clovis culture
spread across North America. The time match in the Americas is remarkably good
for such a large area, and since that's where I live, that's the evidence I
tend to think of first. :-)
>
>No doubt hunting activities and land clearance didn't help, however middle-
>class guilt and political correctness are not good reasons to lump the blame
>entirely on us poor maligned hominids. We're not *completely* evil. :)
>
A mastodon, dire wolf, or cave bear might have thought otherwise. :-)
--
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
jeff@jeffhecht.com http://www.jhecht.net