Featuring numerous illustrations, this book explores the many
lessons to be learned from Pleistocene megafauna, including the
role of humans in their extinction, their disappearance at the
start of the Sixth Extinction, and what they might teach us about
contemporary conservation crises. Long after the extinction of
dinosaurs, when humans were still in the Stone Age, woolly rhinos,
mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and many
other spectacular large animals that are no longer with us roamed
the Earth. These animals are regarded as "Pleistocene megafauna,"
named for the geological era in which they lived-also known as the
Ice Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age,
paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart explores the lives and
environments of these animals, moving between six continents and
several key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via
what we've learned from fossil remains, and he describes the
landscapes, climates, vegetation, ecological interactions, and
other aspects of the animals' existence. Illustrated throughout,
Vanished Giants also offers a picture of the world as it was tens
of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed. Unlike
the case of the dinosaurs, there was no asteroid strike to blame
for the end of their world. Instead, it appears that the giants of
the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate change, human
activities-especially hunting-or both. Drawing on the latest
evidence provided by radiocarbon dating, Stuart discusses these
possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age megafauna can be seen as
the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction, which is happening
right now. This has important implications for understanding the
likely fate of present-day animals in the face of contemporary
climate change and vastly increasing human populations.
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