The Interaction of Humans, Megaherbivores, and Habitats in the Late Pleistocene Extinction Event

Abstract

The extinction pulse during the late Pleistocene exhibited the following special features: (1) extinction likelihood was strongly dependent on body size, (2) the severity of the extinctions varied markedly between continents, and (3) extinctions were associated in time with the appearance of humans, and also with a period of climatic and hence habitat change (Owen-Smith, 1987). Causal explanations must be judged by their ability to predict these patterns.