megafauna

By Museum of Natural History, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research July 24, 2023Elephants (megaherbivores) in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. The diversity and abundance of such giants were much greater in the past than it is today. Credit: Juan CantalapiedraFaysal Bibi from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, and Juan L. Cantalapiedra from the University of Alcalá in Madrid, leveraged thousands of fossil teeth measurements to map out the size and population of large African mammals (more…

The earliest people who lived in North America shared the landscape with huge animals. On any day these hunter-gatherers might encounter a giant, snarling saber-toothed cat ready to pounce, or a group of elephantlike mammoths stripping tree branches. Maybe a herd of giant bison would stampede past. Obviously, you can't see any of these ice-age megafauna now. They've all been extinct for about 12,800 years.…

Frailejones (Espeletia sp.) in Monquentiva, a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae) common in the Colombian páramo. Credit: F. Pym 2022Fungal spores discovered in dung have unveiled that megafauna experienced two distinct extinction “waves” in the Colombian Andes. Coprophilous fungi spores, which are integral to the life cycle of large animals weighing over 45 kg, pass through the digestive systems of these creatures. Consequently, the presence of such spores in sediment samples indicates that these sizable animals once…

Whale sharks endangered by Chinese fishing vessels — Galapagos IslandsImage by the Author. “Sky” the whale shark trajectory overlaid with China’s fishing activity. Galapagos-Ecuador. Data from Global Fishing Watch (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Galapagos Whale Shark ProjectGeospatial technologies have advanced rapidly in the last decade and the results are outstanding. Earth Observation data can reveal environmental and human activity in seconds and has been used in different cases… Whale sharks endangered by Chinese fishing…

Long ago, almost up until the end of the last ice age, a peculiar giant kangaroo roamed the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea.Now, research published by myself and colleagues suggests this kangaroo was not closely related to modern Australian kangaroos. Rather, it represents a previously unknown type of primitive kangaroo unique to New Guinea.  The age of megafaunaAustralia used to be home to all manner of giant animals called megafauna, until most of them went extinct about 40,000 years ago. These megafauna lived…