# Fossil Finds Show Humans, Not Climate Change, Wiped Out Australian Giants



## j d worthington (Jan 28, 2007)

Humans Wiped Out Australian Giants - Yahoo! News

The story is from LiveScience, titled "Humans Wiped Out Australian Giants", by Sara Goudarzi, and datelined Sat., Jan. 27, 2007:



> Humans, not climate change, wiped out large beasts such as marsupial lions and tree kangaroos that roamed Australia thousands of years ago, scientists have concluded based on a remarkable new set of fossils.
> 
> Some researchers had previously argued that harsh dry conditions during the height of several ice ages in Australia might have caused some of the region's large mammals to disappear.
> 
> ...


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## Curt Chiarelli (Jan 28, 2007)

Yes, living organisms are far more robust than we can imagine . . . . except when faced with extinction at the hands of a bipedal hominid with opposable thumbs and a high IQ. Let's face it, when our ancestors made their first great expansion in brain mass they had forsaken their previous diet of tubers, roots and vegetation for animal protein. Herein lies an important correlation as well as the rub of your story J.D.

This evidence certainly suggests what we've suspected all along. However, for something a bit more conclusive it would be great if a research project was initiated: a comprehensive forensic examination of all fossilized bones of all animal species that were suspected of being exterminated by man. The bones of animals killed and eaten by men will have extremely distinctive marks on them, unlike those found on animals predated upon by other carnivores. To make the scope of such a project a bit less epic and more financially realistic in scope, we could limit our survey to a single geographic area. 

Once the results were tabulated, it would be interesting to see another study of this nature undertaken for another geographic area and so on until we gain a broader overview of the results. As in all things scientific, it will not result in absolutely conclusive results, but it will gain us greater insight into our species' complicity in the extinction of other fauna as well as our general impact upon the world.


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## The Ace (Jan 28, 2007)

And this surprises you because....?  We already knew that the Thylacine, was out-competed by the Dingo (and where did that come from ?) and that cats and rats have done incredible damage to native fauna all over the world.  Human hunting is bound to have an effect over millenia.


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## j d worthington (Jan 29, 2007)

Curt: I think it would be a marvelous idea. Whether it ended up supporting this idea or not, the information gained would be considerable.

Ace: Not surprise ... just further information, for those interested; further evidence supporting the idea.


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