HBH 62: Megafauna Extinction Mystery

In the late quaternary period, from about 50 to 10 thousand years ago, vast populations of large animals died out. Among them are some of the most iconic of prehistoric creatures -- mammoths, mastodons, woolly rhinoceri, dire wolves, smilodons, giant sloths, cave bears, and on and on. In North America, more than 70% of species over 40kg (about 100lb) disappeared. In South America, it was even more. Eurasia and Australia lost most of their large animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles.

What happened?

Did the opportinistic pathogen known as Homo sapiens sapiens wipe them out? Or was it the climactic upheaval of the ending of the last ice age? Something else entirely?

Lively and ongoing debate surrounds this topic still. In this episode we go over the theories proposed and the relative merits of each.

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