The End of the Australian Megafauna Caused By Humans

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have produced a report that gives strong evidence that it was humans and not climate change that brought about the extinction of the Australian megafauna, such as giant marsupials, flightless birds and reptiles, around 40,000 year ago.

Australian scientists have claimed that improving dating techniques has shown that humans and megafauna only co-existed in Australia for a short time.  This indicates that hunting by humans could have played a major part in the demise of the megafauna.  New methods of directly dating bones and teeth show that aboriginal tools and megafauna fossils do not all date from the same period.  Another argument for the human cause rather than climate change, is it is believed that humans moved into Australia in a time of a relatively benign and stable climate.

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