Ice Age hunters in South America preferred now-extinct megafauna

Ice Age hunters in South America preferred now-extinct megafauna

Giant sloths are extinct in part because they were tasty and nutritious.

Megafauna was the meat of choice for South American hunters

The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna may be people's fault after all, according to a recent study. A team of archaeologists recently examined animal bones at sites dating to the waning years of the last Ice Age. Their results suggest that extinct megafauna like giant sloths, giant armadillos, and elephant-like creatures were on the menu for Pleistocene hunters in South America. And that means human hunters may have played a nontrivial rol…

Extinct South American megafauna were a staple in the diet of Pleistocene humans

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Extinct megafauna that once roamed southern South America were staples in the diet of early human hunters, according to a new chronological analysis* of faunal remains. “Our results undermine one of the most widely cited objections to the hypothesis that humans are the principal cause of megafaunal extinctions... Read more »