The real reason for the disappearance of giant animals of the Paleolithic is revealed

Scientists from Aarhus University (Denmark) have stated that the sharp decline of megafauna on Earth 50 thousand years ago was caused by human activity, not climate change.

The researchers analyzed the DNA of 139 currently living species of large mammals and found that the number of almost all species plummeted about 50 thousand years ago. Before that, the populations had been stable for 700 thousand years, despite alternating ice ages and glaciers, according to the article published in Nature Communications.

Read also: Scientists have found out what killed dinosaurs

Scientists believe that humans, settling on the Earth, hunted large animals such as elephants, bears, kangaroos, and antelopes, which led to their extinction.

"The classic arguments in favor of climate as an explanatory model are based on the fact that the woolly mammoth and a number of other species associated with the so-called mammoth steppe went extinct when the ice melted and their type of environment disappeared. According to scientists, in fact, most of the extinct species of megafauna of that period did not live in the giant steppe at all. They lived in tropical forests or savannas, and their disappearance cannot be explained by global climate change," explains one of the study's authors, Professor Jens-Christian Swenning.

The study undermines the conventional wisdom that climate change was the main cause of megafauna extinction. It also has important implications for understanding current threats to biodiversity.

Read also: Perfectly preserved embryo found inside a fossilized dinosaur egg for the first time (photo)

"Our study shows that humans can have a significant impact on the environment even in a relatively short time. This is a warning that we should be careful about how we use our resources," said study co-author, Associate Professor Juraj Bergman.

As a reminder, scientists explained why the water in the sea is salty, but the fish in it are not.

If you want to get the latest news about the war and events in Ukraine, subscribe to our Telegram channel!