What Happened to South America's Megafauna?

Archaeology Magazine ^ | October 6, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Illustration of South American megafauna

National University of La Plata

[SunkenCiv]

---

The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and Simon Warwick-Smith

---

[SunkenCiv]

---

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

---

[SunkenCiv]

[x]

I ate it.

Don’t tell Mom.

[Inyo-Mono]

I would think it would be quite brave to try and bring down a giant sloth with spears!

[null and void]

Once you figure out that smoking the meat means a single big kill can provide tasty protein for months...

[null and void]

I would think it would be quite brave to try and bring down a giant sloth with spears!

It you want in dead right there right now, yes.

If you're willing to plant a spear in its belly and wait a few days for it to succumb to infection or blood loss while standing back watching and munching on smoked jerky from the last kill, perhaps not so dangerous...

[Nervous Tick]

>> If you’re willing to plant a spear in its belly and wait a few days for it to succumb to infection or blood loss

Ah, the good old days, before PETA protests!

[crusty old prospector]

As an aside, my son today told me today that our appendix was used by early man to help consume raw meat. Thus, we no longer need it today.

[nicollo]

... so long as you’re not the one on duty watching it from below.

[algore]

“What Happened to South America’s Megafauna?”

I once wondered about this, but the answer is pretty simple.

I did make the assumption that there was not substantially less gravity back then just because I wondered how that could happen also.

So today we mostly have whales in the water, but not much larger things than elephants on land.

in order for larger things other than trees to be viable there would need to be a much denser atmosphere with a lot more carbon dioxide to feed the plant life which in turn produces lots of oxygen and feeds the herbivores, and as they multiply the carnivores do too.

It is not that hard to understand

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

This is what happens when people who have never been outside in their lives try to come up with theories.

[packagingguy]

Megafauna disappeared everywhere humans went...New Zealand, Asia, North America, it doesn’t matter.Ancient humans weren’t good at wildlife preservation.

[jimtorr]

.....targeted megafauna because larger animals yielded more food.

Genius! Why did't anybody else think of that?

[BradyLS]

Zackly.

[Cold Heart]

A recent study claimed the appendix was for growing and storing good bacteria for digestion.

[Carry_Okie]

Dr. Charles Kay at Utah State wrote this in Wilderness and Political Ecology: Aboriginal Influences and the Original State of Nature almost 25 years ago, attributing the "Pleistocene die-off" exclusively to people. While I agree that people were significant contributors to the megafauna extinctions, I suspect a confluence of causes, including real climate change at the close of the Pleistocene and singularities such as comet strikes.

[alexander_busek]

As an aside, my son today told me today that our appendix was used by early man to help consume raw meat. Thus, we no longer need it today.

The reverse is true!

In our evolutionary past, the appendix was larger, and was used to digest fibrous (vegetable) material.

Recent thinking suggests that the appendix might serve as a "safe house" for beneficial bacteria that might otherwise be lost after, e.g., a severe bout of diarrhea.

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

I once wondered about this, but the answer is pretty simple. I did make the assumption that there was not substantially less gravity back then just because I wondered how that could happen also. So today we mostly have whales in the water, but not much larger things than elephants on land. in order for larger things other than trees to be viable there would need to be a much denser atmosphere with a lot more carbon dioxide to feed the plant life which in turn produces lots of oxygen and feeds the herbivores, and as they multiply the carnivores do too. It is not that hard to understand

You should publish!

Regards,