Latest Pleistocene extinctions Stories
Pioneering new research by archaeologists at the University of York suggests that Neanderthals belied their primitive reputation and had a deep seated sense of compassion.A team from the University's Department of Archaeology took on the "˜unique challenge' of charting the development of compassion in early humans.The researchers examined archaeological evidence for the way emotions began to emerge in our ancestors six million years ago and then developed from earliest times to more recent...
A team made up of members of the University of Oviedo (UO) and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) have gathered together all findings of the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros and the reindeer in the Iberian Peninsula to show that, although in small numbers, these big mammals, prehistoric indicators of cold climates, already lived in this territory some 150,000 years ago.The presence of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), the...
Mankind most likely had a hand in the extinction of the giant animals known as "megafauna" according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).A team of Australian researchers, led by Australian National University School of Archaeology and Anthropology Professor Matthew Spriggs, found the leg bones of meiolaniid, or horned turtles, on the island of Efate.However, they did not find any shells or skulls, and since the bones were...
The remains of a strange, prehistoric saber-tooth cat have been unearthed in an ancient former rainforest in Australia, scientists said Thursday. Paleontologist Henk Godthelp, who led the discovery, said this is the first time the carnivore had been seen in Australia. He called the find an exciting and unique discovery. The animal is "sort of like a native cat with a broad flattish head with large canines," said Godthelp. "It's an animal we don't think we've seen before up at Riversleigh so...
X-ray analysis reveals that saber-tooth forelimbs were exceptionally strong compared to their feline cousinsSaber-toothed cats may be best known for their supersized canines, but they also had exceptionally strong forelimbs for pinning prey before delivering the fatal bite, says a new study in the journal PLoS ONE.Commonly called the "saber-toothed tiger," the extinct cat Smilodon fatalis roamed North and South America until 10,000 years ago, preying on large mammals such as bison,...
A new analysis of the extinction of woolly mammoths and other large mammals more than 10,000 years ago suggests that they may have fallen victim to the same type of "trophic cascade" of ecosystem disruption that scientists say is being caused today by the global decline of predators such as wolves, cougars, and sharks.In each case the cascading events were originally begun by human disruption of ecosystems, a new study concludes, but around 15,000 years ago the problem was not the...
The separation of Neanderthal and Homo sapiens might have occurred at least one million years ago, more than 500,000 years earlier than previously believed after DNA-based analyses. A doctoral thesis conducted at the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana) -associated with the University of Granada-, analyzed the teeth of almost all species of hominids that have existed during the past 4 million years. Quantitative...
The robust jaws and formidable teeth of some of our ancestors and ape cousins may suggest that humans are wimps when it comes to producing a powerful bite: but a new study has found the opposite is true, with major implications for our understanding of diet in ancestral humans.The surprise findings suggest that early modern humans did not necessarily need to use tools and cooking to process high-nutrient hard foods, such as nuts - and perhaps less tough foods such as meat - but may have lost...
Almost two million years ago, early humans began eating food such as crocodiles, turtles and fish "“ a diet that could have played an important role in the evolution of human brains and our footsteps out of Africa, according to new research.In what is the first evidence of consistent amounts of aquatic foods in the human diet, an international team of researchers has discovered early stone tools and cut marked animal remains in northern Kenya. The work has just been published in the...
The balance of biodiversity within North American small-mammal communities is so out of whack from the last episode of global warming about 12,000 years ago that the current climate change could push them past a tipping point, with repercussions up and down the food chain, say Stanford biologists. The evidence lies in fossils spanning the last 20,000 years that the researchers excavated from a cave in Northern California.What they found is that although the small mammals in the area suffered...
Latest Pleistocene extinctions Reference Libraries
Commonly known as the Eurasian cave lion or the European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is thought to have lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and may have lived in the Balkans in southeastern Europe until 2,000 years ago. The range of this cave lion would have included northwestern North America, Asia, and areas of Europe and would have extended from Germany, Spain, and Great Britain to the Yukon Territory. Its range also extended from Turkistan to...
The stag-moose (Cervalces scotti) is also known as the stag moose and was actually a deer that resembled a moose. It resided in North America during the Pleistocene era. Its range included New Jersey and Iowa, reach north from Arkansas to Southern Canada. It inhabited wetlands in these areas. This animal had long legs, a head resembling an elk, and huge, complex antlers. The stag-moose became extinct during the mass extinction of large mammals that occurred in the last Ice Age on North...
The shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) is a close relative of the modern musk-ox, and is an extinct member of the family Bovidae. It inhabited North America during the late Pleistocene, appearing before the first bovids entered North America from Eurasia. These muskoxen became extinct approximately 11,500 years ago. The shrub-ox was very large, approximately in between the sizes of a musk-ox and an American Bison. Research done on pellets left by these oxen shows that they browsed for food...
Harlan’s muskox (Bootherium bombifrons) is an extinct type of bovine, also known as the woodland muskox. It lived in North American during the late Pleistocene era, and was one of the most widely distributed oxen at that time. This bison died out around 11,000 years ago. Many fossils of Harlan’s muskox have been found in New Jersey, Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, and California, including a nearly complete individual found in 1940. Three other types of muskoxen inhabited North America...
The steppe wisent (Bison priscus) or steppe bison was common to North America, Central Asia, Europe, and Beringia during the Quaternary period. It is thought that the steppe bison appeared around the same time as the aurochs , an extinct type of cattle, in Asia. Descendants of the steppe bison are often confused with the aurochs species. During the late Pleistocene era, the steppe wisent became extinct, giving rise to the modern wisent in Europe, and eventually the modern Bison in America....
