During the Megafaunal heyday around 500,000 years ago,
the dental analysis revealed that the climate was semi-arid.
Evidence of butchery of animals that are now extinct continues right up to the time of the Megafaunal crash.
The overkill hypothesis, a pattern of large animal extinctions connected with human migration patterns,
can be used explain why Megafaunal extinctions can occur within a relatively short time period.
What's remarkable about the Megafaunal crash in Madagascar is that it occurred not
tens of thousands of years ago but just over 1,000 years ago, between A.D. 700 and 1000.
A new study
has compared the diet of a variety of Australian Megafaunal herbivores from the period when they were widespread(350,000 to 570,000 years ago)
to a period when they were in decline(30,000 to 40,000 years ago) by studying their fossil teeth.
A new study in Paleobiology
has compared the diet of a variety of Australian Megafaunal herbivores from the period when they were widespread(350,000 to 570,000 years ago)
to a period when they were in decline(30,000 to 40,000 years ago) by studying their fossil teeth.