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To: megatherium
Tell that to the mammoths. Our ancestors killed off many of the pleistocene megafauna species 11,000 years ago.

That is an unproveable hypothosis. Unless you know something the rest of the scientists don't.

43 posted on 07/14/2004 9:50:29 AM PDT by been_lurking
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To: been_lurking
megatherium: Tell that to the mammoths. Our ancestors killed off many of the pleistocene megafauna species 11,000 years ago.

been_lurking: That is an unproveable hypothosis. Unless you know something the rest of the scientists don't.

I saw an episode of NOVA a couple of years ago that examined the theories of what caused the extinction of the mammoths. The two theories under consideration were climate change (end of the ice age) and human predation.

Plausible computer models say that human hunting combined with climate pressure could explain the demise of the mammoths, which would have happened in several centuries. The die-off of mammoths and the other pleistocene megafauna in North America occurred over a 400 year period coincident with the arrival of humans, about 11,000 years ago. The climate changes that enabled humans to cross the Bering land bridge must have played a role, but another theory is that humans brought diseases with them that killed the animals. But again, hunting is known to be capable of causing these extinctions. Yet, you are right, proof may be hard to come by.

45 posted on 07/14/2004 10:08:00 AM PDT by megatherium
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