Humans Caused Demise of Australia's Megafauna, Evidence Shows

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2010) — A new scientific paper co-authored by a University of Adelaide researcher reports strong evidence that humans, not climate change, caused the demise of Australia's megafauna -- giant marsupials, huge reptiles and flightless birds -- at least 40,000 years ago.

In a paper published in the journal Science, two Australian scientists claim that improved dating methods show that humans and megafauna only co-existed for a relatively short time after people inhabited Australia, adding weight to the argument that hunting led to the extinction of large-bodied species.

According to Professor Richard 'Bert' Roberts from the University of Wollongong and Professor Barry Brook from the University of Adelaide, new methods to directly date bones and teeth of extinct species show that megafauna fossils and Aboriginal tools do not all date from the same period.

"Debate about the possible cause of these late Pleistocene extinctions has continued for more than 150 years, with scientists divided over whether climate change or the arrival of humans has been responsible for their demise," Professor Brook says.

"Australia was colonised during a time when the climate was relatively benign, supporting the view that people, not climate change, caused the extinctions here," he says.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121141109.htm

[Submariner]

1. Just look at the mindset of our Buffalo hunters and the whalers in the 19th century

and it does not surprise that man can lay waste to the big critters.

[semillama]

2. Or even more close to Australia, what happened in New Zealand

when the Maoris showed up. New Zealand was pretty special in that the only mammals prior to humans to colonize the islands were bats. Bird represented the major animal group on the island, and the number of species that went extinct shortly after humans set foot on the beach is really depressing:

-all ten (TEN!) species of moa
-New Zealand Pelican
-New Zealand Little Bittern
-seven species of ducks, geese and swans
-seven out of twelve rails and coots
-New Zealand Quail
-two species of snipe
-Eyles' Harrier
-Haast's Eagle (largest eagle in the world)
-Laughing Owl
-New Zealand Owlet-Nightjar
-seven of nine species of wrens
-New Zealand Crow
-and four other species of passerines

About two-thirds of these extinctions are due to hunting by the Maoris, while the rest succumbed to European hunting, habitat eradication and most significantly, the introduction of dogs, cats, stoats and rodents.