The Fall of the Giants Down Under

It seems that climate change didn't push Australia's prehistoric megafauna to extinction. It was probably humans

Forty thousand years ago, Australia's megafauna -- giant-sized mammals, reptiles and flightless birds -- went extinct.

"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," says Barry Brook from Australia's University of Adelaide in recent press release.

According to a study published last week in the journal Science by Brook and Richard Roberts from Australia's University of Wollongong, new evidence adds weight to the theory that humans pushed these massive creatures to their extinction.

The scientists used improved dating methods on the bones and teeth of extinct animals to show that megafauna existed for only a short time after the arrival of humans.

"Given that people arrived in Australia between 60,000 and 45,000 years ago, human impact was the likely extinction driver, either through hunting or habitat disturbance," Roberts says.

It seems that animal extinctions caused by human activity is not a modern story. We've been doing it for millennia.

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image: Palorchestes azael, an extinct Australian giant marsupial which was similar to a ground sloth