Science

Humans Contributed Major Role in World's Larger Mammal Extinctions

April 20, 2018 19:37·
Years From Now Largest Mammal On Earth May Be A Domestic Cow Study

Years From Now Largest Mammal On Earth May Be A Domestic Cow Study

Earth's mammal size decreased due to geographical spread of humans around the world.

Science have always been awakening humans about the inferior count of the high sized animals, most of which have totally extinct from the Earth.

Elephant-dwarfing wooly mammoths, elephant-sized ground sloths and various saber-toothed cats highlighted the array of massive mammals roaming Earth between 2.6 million and 12,000 years ago. To provide a different perspective on these extinctions, a team of biologists led by Felisa Smith of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, made a decision to look for changes in the pattern of extinctions since the beginning of the Cenozoic period 65 million years ago-the end of the dinosaurs and the beginning of the rise of mammals.

The magnitude and scale of the recent size-biased extinction surpassed any other recorded during the last 66 million years, according to the study, which was led by the University of New Mexico's Felisa Smith. This means that not only modern humans, but also our ancestors, had a major impact on mammal populations. It just seems to be something that we do. If you kill a rabbit, you're going to feed your family for a night.

The researchers ruled out climate change as a potential cause.

While humans targeted big species for meat smaller creatures such as rodents escaped
While humans targeted big species for meat smaller creatures such as rodents escaped

Current trends could end up leading to the extinction of various large mammals.

In that scenario, Lyons said, the largest remaining mammal would be the domestic cow. In every continent humans had migrated to (bar Antarctica), the average body mass of mammals had decreased. The average body mass would plummet to less than six pounds - roughly the size of a Yorkshire terrier.

If the loss of large-bodied mammals continues into the future and all the now threatened animals are lost, the largest mammal on Earth in 200 years may be a domestic cow. "When the present trend carries on, terrestrial mammal body contours will wind up smaller than they will have been within the past 45 million years", the study reads. Large mammals tend to be herbivores, devouring large quantities of vegetation and effectively transporting the associated nutrients around an ecosystem. One listed the global distribution and body size of animal species in the late Pleistocene and Holocene, starting 125,000 years ago.

The researchers analysed 65 million years of mammalian fossil data on each of the continents. But it's still the largest mammals that are most at risk, primarily because they most often find themselves in conflict with humans and their livestock, the dominant players in land ecosystems today.

As humans branched out to different continents, the body size of mammals continued to get smaller and lighter. The team received support from the National Science Foundation.

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