New study finds that extinction of Ice Age animals likely due to wildfires from increased human settlement and activity

Roughly 13,000 years ago, Ice Age animals such as saber-toothed cats, the American lion and mammoths started going extinct in the Los Angeles basin about a thousand years before their extinction in other parts of North America. To find out why, a team of scientists collaborated on a new study that argues that wildfires due to increased human activity in the region was likely to blame. The scientists made their findings based on fossil specimens extracted from preserved remains at the La Brea Tar Pits, along with sediment cores they dug up to provide a prehistoric timeline of wildfire activity amid a changing landscape. Edward Davis is the director of the Condon Fossil Collection at the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, and one of the authors of the study which was published in August. He joins us to talk about the study and its relevance in an era of extreme wildfires driven by climate change.