Pleistocene megafauna extinction

The loss of many large animal species during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene, especially across the Americas and Australia. Its timing and causes varied by region.

Quaternary extinction event: A wave of large-animal extinctions during the Quaternary period, concentrated in the Late Pleistocene. This broader event frames the megafaunal losses as part of a global extinction pattern.
Woolly mammoth: An extinct elephant adapted to cold environments across northern Eurasia and North America. Mammoth populations vanished on continents at different times, with isolated survivors persisting on islands.
Late Pleistocene: The final part of the Pleistocene epoch, ending about 11,700 years ago. Most continental megafaunal losses occurred during this interval or near its end.
Anthropocene: A proposed geological epoch defined by substantial human influence on Earth’s systems. The debate asks whether prehistoric human impacts already produced a major global ecological transformation.
Overkill hypothesis: The hypothesis that human hunting caused or accelerated the extinction of large animals. It attributes many losses to the arrival and spread of human hunters.
Glyptodon: An extinct, heavily armored South American mammal related to modern armadillos. Its disappearance illustrates the severe losses among South American megafauna.
Radiocarbon dating: A method for estimating the age of once-living materials from their carbon-14 content. It dates fossils and archaeological evidence used to compare extinctions with human presence.
Island rule: An evolutionary pattern in which large animals on islands often become smaller and small animals larger. Island populations sometimes survived after continental relatives vanished, raising questions about refuges and human pressure.
Climate change: Long-term shifts in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric conditions that alter environments. Rapid warming and habitat shifts near the Pleistocene’s end may have stressed large-animal populations.
Diprotodon: An extinct, rhinoceros-sized marsupial herbivore that lived in Pleistocene Australia. Its extinction belongs to Australia’s early and pronounced megafaunal decline.

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