Why did the world's largest animals disappear 50,000 years ago?
In short: Ross MacPhee, curator of mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History, explores the mysterious extinction of prehistoric megafauna. From woolly mammoths to giant lemurs, this presentation examines what scientists believe caused these massive creatures to vanish from the Earth.
Beginning approximately 50,000 years ago, a diverse array of megafauna—including woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, gorilla-sized lemurs, and 500-pound birds—began to disappear. This presentation, recorded at the museum on December 5, 2018, utilizes illustrations to reconstruct these strange, lost ecosystems.
MacPhee evaluates current scientific theories regarding these extinctions, providing insight into the environmental and biological factors that may have driven such widespread loss of life among the world's largest land animals.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: End of the Megafauna with Ross MacPhee – AMNH SciCafe
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