Extinction Of The Megafauna Round The World

“A minority disputes this theory, arguing that other events-such as volcanic eruptions, sea-level changes or a series of impacts-were to blame for the spectacular loss of species that occurred at the transition between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods…”

Stephen Gould’s essay “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs” completely agrees with Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb’s essay “Argument, Critical Thinking, and Rationality.” Gould’s essay deals with three theories for the extinction of the dinosaurs, two of which he argues are entirely invalid because they are not in accordance with the basic rules of argument laid out by Williams and Colomb in their essay. Gould also states that the third theory of dinosaur extinction, natural disaster, follows all the rules that Williams and Colomb espouse, and thus is a sound argument. Gould, Williams, and Colomb all state that the world has a problem with irrational arguments being shoved down people’s throats, and call for a

Megafaunal extinction is a reference to how large animals such as the woolly mammoth became extinct, especially in North America. This extinction had an effect on Paleolithic cultures at the time, because some were extremely affected by it. In fact, the Clovis culture around North America became extinct with the animals. This is important, as it showed that after the extinction, the people didn't die out, but instead they spread out, with groups hunting smaller animals or bison instead of mammoths. It helped evolve Native American cultures, as after the megafaunal phase, some of the cultures became farmers or developers of cities. (Social and

The question of what caused the extinction of megafauna during the Late Pleistocene period is one that archaeologists have struggled to answer for decades, but why should it matter? Discovering with certainty the cause of megafaunal extinction would

In the two essays being discussed we learn that science has a vast range of definitions. Science is the effort to understand (or to understand better), the history of the natural world and how the natural world works with observable physical evidence as the base of understanding. Science is about how the hypothesis is developed and how well it is defended.

There were multiple issues identified in opposition to this claim, the first being the lack of evidence for contemporaneity between the arrival of humans with the extinction of the megafauna. Without consensus on these two time periods inferences about the cause of megafaunal extinction cannot be made. Judith Field suggests that the site at Cuddie Springs demonstrates long periods of co-habitation between humans and now extinct megafauna, which generates issues in the rapid extinction aspect of Flannery’s hypotheses (“Taming the Fire”, 1998). In addition Bowman (1998) also proposes the evidence for primarily human induced megafaunal extinction is unsubstantial and possibly caused by numerous factors including climate and habitat changes (pp.

When sometimes around twelve thousand years ago climate started to become warmer and ice started to melt, it created a great allowance for ancient hunters to reach North America. Native Americans started to hunt in the wider areas and supply their community with a lot of meat. When people started to have more food, especially meat that caused a fast growth of population. For some unknown reasons, at the same time big mammals and mastodons started to disappear from the Earth. It is a possibility that the climate warming and lack of water sources played a role of the disappearance these big animals. Lack of water put animals in the situation when survival is not possible. The climate change also made a big adjustment in human’s ration and style of life. When people started to spread to North America, they discovered a lot of new food sources like small animals, fish, different kind of nuts and berries.

Diamond theorizes that the extinction of the megafauna in New Guinea/Australia was due to humans killing them for food, and on accident, due to habitat modification and fires. They did not have the evolutionary preparation for the humans with their developed hunting skills since they had not been confronted by humans yet.

The reading argues that the distinction of megafauna was because of three reasons.However,the professor in the lecture states that although the points in the lecture were true,but reexamination of the these points lead to a new conclusion.the professor opposes the three points made by the author in the reading about the extinction of the diprotodone.

But, this book has 13 chapters each explaining evidence of extinction, theories, or animals that had been extinct. Animals that were talked about included the Great Auks and Mammoths. Reasons for the extinctions were the obvious ones such as hunting and global warming.

The Smilodon, commonly known as the Saber-toothed Tiger, was an intense carnivore in which was completely unrelated to today’s common Asian Tiger. Saber-toothed cats are predicted to have gone extinct towards the end of the Pleistocene era, 12,000 years ago. The exact cause of the extinction is unknown, however, scientists believe it to be due to the extinction of animals they preyed on, with the possibility of climate change. Smilodons lived in North and South America, generically in grasslands, shrubby areas, and pine forests that also supported the plant-eating lifestyle of animals that Saber-tooths so frequently preyed on. The fossils of this particular species was first discovered in 1842, in Brazil. Currently, the largest known collection

Dinosaur extinction: An analysis of events and theories that possibly led to the dinosaurs' demise.

Not to mention “...both groups emphasized that climate change would play an increasing role in species decline…” (Gilman). Climate change is still a controversial topic to some, but many scientists have proven that it’s true. In fact, Neil Degrasse Tyson has given evidence to prove its truth and already informed the world that it’s too late to fix people’s mistakes (Neil). The extinction of species has been caused in certain instances by climate change, which is only getting worse. People have continuously altered the environment to the point of harming other species. The human race’s tendency to destroy an environment greatly impacts the plants and animals residing there. To be more specific, “Human destruction of animal and plant habitat...appear to be having a major impact on extinction rates” (Wilson). Environmental degradation and habitat destruction are both key players in the extinction of many world species. The impact people have had on the environment is much bigger than most anticipate, as they both destroy and intervene with the environment.

Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene

Rapid climate change also ends up on the suspect list of possible dinosaur extinction events. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period continents broke up causing volcanoes to erupt and fill the sky with gas and ash resulting in a drastic climate change (“Dinosaurs Climate Change and Biodiversity”). The shifting of continents changed the Earth’s landscape, altering weather patterns and overall climate (“Dinosaur Extinction Theories”). Also, over a long period of time, climate gradually changed. Ocean habits changed, temperatures grew much more extreme causing scorching summers and frigid winters (Norell, Dingus, and Gaffney). Radical temperature changes like these led to a green-house effect, making life for the dinosaurs a lot