Devyani Goswami, Amity University Kolkata
Pelistocene megafauna consists majorly of land mammal like- mammoths, large bovines, giraffes, elephants, etc. Pelistocene megafauna extinction has occurred during the last 50,000 years. There are various theories relating to extinction like human hunting, climate change, disease, or any other causes. Pelistocene megafauna was major found in South-east Asia and Africa, but comparatively the extinction rate was lower than Northern America. Their extinction began right after the end of the ice-age.
Julien Louys says,” Southeast Asia is often overlooked in the global discussion of megafauna extinction, but it once had a much richer mammal community full of giants that are now extinct”.
The researchers analyzed the fossils of teeth to identify the mode of nutrition of these mammals and inferred that they fed predominantly on tropical grasses or leaves, which are now seen majorly in the parts of Southeast Asia. The change in the mode of nutrition could be due to aberrant climate change from the ice age to a normal period. Environmental disturbances along with increase human hunting is also the cause of the extinction of the megafauna.
Extinction of megafauna has caused the reduction of the lateral transport of mineral nutrients in the ecosystem. Megafaunal extinction has even caused a reduction of the atmospheric methane concentration. Although it has benefited the Homo sapiens, the continued extinction can lead to the dis-balance of the ecosystem in the future.
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REFERENCE: 1) environmental drivers of megafauna and hominin extinction in Southeast Asia” – Julien Louys and Patrick Roberts
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2810-y
2) New Biochemical Research shows past tropical forest changes drove megafauna and hominid extinction
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