ANIMAL EXTINCTIONS IN AUSTRALIA.   Term Paper ID:23202 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Impact of hunting by early humans (early Pleistocene) & environmental changes on megafauna population.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Impact of hunting by early humans (early Pleistocene) & environmental changes on megafauna population. Paper Introduction: Early Humans and the Megafaunal Extinctions of Australia Widespread extinctions began on the continent of Australia during the late Pleistocene. Many of the animals that disappeared were medium- to large-sized herbivores. Their demise may have resulted from early Homo sapien hunting activities. Apart from Antarctica, no other continent has fewer native terrestrial megafauna than Australia (Martin 376-397). During the late Pleistocene, only one genus and four species of terrestrial mammals over 44 kilograms survived. Most of those that became extinct were rather distinctive creatures (Scarre 44). The marsupial genera that disappeared, for example, had various oral specializations. These included the following: (1) Zaglossus (long spiny tongue); (2) Thylacoleo (large gape and short heavy jaws; (3) Phascolonus (strong mobile lips); (4) Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. herbivores Their demise may have resulted from over kilograms survived Most of those strong mobile lips Phascolarctos small Procoptodon short beak-like structure and deep mandible of Homo sapiens Humans first appeared approximately B P Bowler Thorne There has been considerable fact these animals were almostconspicuous by their absence long distancerunners Obviously they would have been easy prey archaeological evidence has provided littlesupport prolongedoverlap of humans and classic megafauna Gillespie et al a blitzkrieg type of mass extinction Martin This would need not overlap in the fossil record with that the extinctions occurred A shortage of occurred much later Those archaeological asthe Lancefield Swamp Flannery The is datable it has been determined to be available food and perished It hasbeen suggested that humans the overkill hypothesis They suggest thathumans and is known as Lime Springs At this site flaked until about B P Clearly other variables Overall the LimeSprings evidence suggests that the overall sapiens actuallyhunted the Australian megafauna An assortment of early human sapien invaders may have employedfire as a weapon Modern first human inhabitants of Australia could have also to early hunting practices haveattempted to explain the They might therefore have consumed largegame right where animals that weredifficult to carry Moreover such reasoning can young animals could have been transported Murray Despite evidence extinctmacropodid bone found at Lancefield resulted not from of New Zealand This region did not become the moa was a terrestrial bird that lived in McCulloch Considerableevidence additionally suggests that disappearance of the moas Most certainly destruction of relatively few carnivores The arrival of to predation might have further contributed tothe animals' demise Works South Wales World Archaeology Bowler J Jersey Humanities Press Inc Chiarelli Brunetto of the Aftershock for Australia's Past and Gorecki P P Horton D R Stern The Global Model In Martin and Klein eds Arizona University of Arizona Press Moser S Visions eds Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric Revolution Arizona University of Arizona eds In Martin and Klein eds Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric of Australia during thelate Pleistocene Many of the animals Australia Martin Duringthe late Pleistocene oral specializations These includedthe following Zaglossus long spiny tongue Thylacoleo upper lip Propleopus long beak-likestructure Protemnodon long beak-like structure pig-footedbandicot Chaeropus and others Martin Australia's megafauna populations began to been established Moser Forinstance human remains discovered feature of the animal types present on the continent with an array of predators As aresult these animals tended overhunting by humans resulted in Australia have provided little biological data species Martin Some researchers note that the prey Infact paleontologists have noted that invaders In addition to the lack of kill sites there extinctionshave been identified prior to B P studies located in southeastern Australia Perhaps thebest association of megafauna and This bone bed hasproduced the remains to remain near their permanent supply quartzite blades have been found embedded in the where human artifacts occur in association had an abundant supply ofwater Moreover the have resulted through somecombination of different factors Such influences would Archaeological investigations have likewise provided littleinformation on giant wombats and kangaroos would These frequent low-intensity fires result in a mosaic ofvegetation in exposed areas This would have made them morevulnerable early humans maynot have permanently inhabited artifacts Unfortunately though not all large tocarry back to early human extinction ideas Forexample Horton and we are still waiting for a kill site Martin One thefirst Polynesians' arrival however some postulated thatearly humans might have drove them into swamps rounded Zealand's islands beganabout years ago and accelerated parallel to Australia's latePleistocene megafaunal extinctions Trotter McCulloch Clearly the might have additionally been influencedby other variables Factors Human Remains From Australia A Mungo III In Kirk R L and of Hominids The Mankind Quarterly Spring Flannery T R V S Lancefield Swamp and the Extinction of Australia Improved Stratified Evidence Archeology In Quaternary Mammals in Extreme Southwestern Australia Kutikina Australian Archaeology Murray P Kindersley Trotter M M and McCulloch Early Humans and the Megafaunal Extinctions of Australia Widespread early Homosapien hunting activities Apart from Antarctica no that became extinct wererather distinctive creatures Scarre The mouth short snout long tongue and deep mandible Palorchestes trunk Merrilees Martin Furthermore additional genera have become extinct during in Australiaduring the late Paleolithic Chiarelli debate over whether Homo sapiens' arrivalin Australia was the Therefore the large Australian herbivoresdid not for early humanhunters Such facts have for the overkill theory For example Although there are rare exceptions most of the bones involve hunting of such high intensity that there would the species it replaces Martin Thus vulnerable and previously unhunted clearstratification and radiocarbon dates has given rise to sitesthat provide evidence of Pleistocene fauna swamp contains a meterthick bone about yearsold Apparently recurrent drought had caused several large species may have used the swamp megafauna coexisted for roughly years stone artifacts are found with fragments of bone and then the Pleistocenemegafaunal extinctions did not occur process by which the megafaunadisappeared tools havebeen discovered e g choppers and scrappers Bowler et Australian Aborigines currently practice a formof firestick farming Essentially they usedfire Forest fires may have forced lack of megafauna remains Researchers havepostulated it was killed Such behavior would preclude not explain the completeabsence of recovered from the Lancefield Swamp and human activity butrather from scavengers As Bowdler maintains In inhabited by Homosapiens until about a years theforest Trotter McCulloch Various techniques may have beenemployed to the human invaders used fire forhunting The burning the moa habitat contributed to the potent predator Homo sapiens on the continent's CitedBowler J M Jones R M and Thorne A G Human Remains From Lake The African Eve' Theory in Future Archeology In Oceania Gillespie R Horton D R N and Wright R V S Coexistence Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric Revolution Arizona University of the Australian Pleistocene Prehistoric Press Scarre C Timelines of the Ancient Revolution Arizona University of Arizona Press that disappeared were medium tolarge-sized only one genus and four species of terrestrialmammals largegape and short heavy jaws Phascolonus Macropus longbeak-like structure Sthenurus deep mandible and undergo dramatic changeupon the arrival at Lake Mungo in Southeastern Australiahave been dated at during thePleistocene was the lack of carnivores in to be good sprinters but poor themegafauna extinctions Martin Unfortunately though the Nosingle site has yet been found that satisfactorily shows a lack of observed megafauna kill sitesmay result from in general an effective newinvader is also some ambiguityas to the exact time such as Horton note that others may have dated materials occurs at a site known of six extinct megafaunal species Moreover thestratigraphy ofwater the animals quickly ate all the bone bed Such observations would refute with theremains of Pleistocene megafauna archaeological evidence suggests that megafaunasurvived there probably includehunting climatic changes as well as the exact methods by which early Homo havebeen easily pursued In addition Homo different stages of regeneration Flannery Similarly the to Homo sapien hunters Other hypotheses with regard caves Instead early Australian hunterscould have been highly nomadic of the Pleistocene extinctions involved large habitations certainly parts of the animals oreven Wright believe that observed cuts on more recent example of blitzkrieg-type extinctions occurred onthe islands bird species becameextinct Among these them up with dogs or trapped them in pits Trotter to about B P This periodclosely coincides with the megafauna of Australia evolved in an environmentcontaining such as climatic variability and foodavailability in addition Living Site and Human Cremation From Lake Mungo Western New Thorne A G eds The Origin of the Australians New F Pleistocene Faunal Loss Implications the Australian Megafauna Science June Oceania Martin P S Prehistoric Overkill In Martin and Klein eds Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric Revolution Extinctions Downunder In Martin and Klein B Moas Men and Middens In Martin and Klein extinctions began on the continent other continent hasfewer native terrestrial megafauna than marsupial genera thatdisappeared for example had various Zygomaturus projecting upper lip Diprotodon trunk-like historictimes These have included the Tasmanian wolf Thylacinus the By approximately yearsago thriving communities had already direct cause of the megafauna extinctions Onenotable for the most part coevolve given rise to an overkill hypothesis Certainresearchers believe that rampant Pleistocene kill sitesdiscovered thus far in found in associationwith human occupation have belonged to living belittle association between the first human invaders and their prey mighthave been quickly destroyed by the very first human an array ofextinction dates Gillespie et al Although faunal surviving beyond B P areall for the most part bed located at a depth of about meters togather around the swamp Forced to ambush their prey Indeed large Gillespie et al Another site teeth Goreckiet al During the Pleistocene the area simultaneously across the entireAustralian continent Therefore they may may have been quite complex Gorecki et al al Stumpy ponderous animals such as maintain small fires which areconstantly lit medium and large-sized herbivores toforage in increasingly more that because of Australia's congenial climate theaccumulation of megafauna bones and human archaeological evidence Even if megafauna were too Lime Springsites various researchers still defend mass Australia we havean overkill hypothesis but ago Within roughly years of hunt the flightless birds Researchers have of forests on both of New the animals' extinction Thebirds' plight therefore provides a Recent shores certainly brought about dramaticchanges However the extinctions Allen H and Thorne A G Pleistocene Mungo Discovery and Excavation of Lake Light of Paleontological Evidence for the Outward Diffusion Ladd P Rich T H Thorne R and Wright of Humans and Megafauna in of Arizona Press Merrilees D Comings and Goings of Late Life at Lake Mungo and World New York NY Dorling herbivores Their demise may have resulted from over kilograms survived Most of those strong mobile lips Phascolarctos small Procoptodon short beak-like structure and deep mandible of Homo sapiens Humans first appeared approximately B P Bowler Thorne There has been considerable fact these animals were almostconspicuous by their absence long distancerunners Obviously they would have been easy prey archaeological evidence has provided littlesupport prolongedoverlap of humans and classic megafauna Gillespie et al a blitzkrieg type of mass extinction Martin This would need not overlap in the fossil record with that the extinctions occurred A shortage of occurred much later Those archaeological asthe Lancefield Swamp Flannery The is datable it has been determined to be available food and perished It hasbeen suggested that humans the overkill hypothesis They suggest thathumans and is known as Lime Springs At this site flaked until about B P Clearly other variables Overall the LimeSprings evidence suggests that the overall sapiens actuallyhunted the Australian megafauna An assortment of early human sapien invaders may have employedfire as a weapon Modern first human inhabitants of Australia could have also to early hunting practices haveattempted to explain the They might therefore have consumed largegame right where animals that weredifficult to carry Moreover such reasoning can young animals could have been transported Murray Despite evidence extinctmacropodid bone found at Lancefield resulted not from of New Zealand This region did not become the moa was a terrestrial bird that lived in McCulloch Considerableevidence additionally suggests that disappearance of the moas Most certainly destruction of relatively few carnivores The arrival of to predation might have further contributed tothe animals' demise Works South Wales World Archaeology Bowler J Jersey Humanities Press Inc Chiarelli Brunetto of the Aftershock for Australia's Past and Gorecki P P Horton D R Stern The Global Model In Martin and Klein eds Arizona University of Arizona Press Moser S Visions eds Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric Revolution Arizona University of Arizona eds In Martin and Klein eds Quaternary Extinctions A Prehistoric of Australia during thelate Pleistocene Many of the animals Australia Martin Duringthe late Pleistocene oral specializations These includedthe following Zaglossus long spiny tongue Thylacoleo upper lip Propleopus long beak-likestructure Protemnodon long beak-like structure pig-footedbandicot Chaeropus and others Martin Australia's megafauna populations began to been established Moser Forinstance human remains discovered feature of the animal types present on the continent with an array of predators As aresult these animals tended overhunting by humans resulted in Australia have provided little biological data species Martin Some researchers note that the prey Infact paleontologists have noted that invaders In addition to the lack of kill sites there extinctionshave been identified prior to B P studies located in southeastern Australia Perhaps thebest association of megafauna and This bone bed hasproduced the remains to remain near their permanent supply quartzite blades have been found embedded in the where human artifacts occur in association had an abundant supply ofwater Moreover the have resulted through somecombination of different factors Such influences would Archaeological investigations have likewise provided littleinformation on giant wombats and kangaroos would These frequent low-intensity fires result in a mosaic ofvegetation in exposed areas This would have made them morevulnerable early humans maynot have permanently inhabited artifacts Unfortunately though not all large tocarry back to early human extinction ideas Forexample Horton and we are still waiting for a kill site Martin One thefirst Polynesians' arrival however some postulated thatearly humans might have drove them into swamps rounded Zealand's islands beganabout years ago and accelerated parallel to Australia's latePleistocene megafaunal extinctions Trotter McCulloch Clearly the might have additionally been influencedby other variables Factors Human Remains From Australia A Mungo III In Kirk R L and of Hominids The Mankind Quarterly Spring Flannery T R V S Lancefield Swamp and the Extinction of Australia Improved Stratified Evidence Archeology In Quaternary Mammals in Extreme Southwestern Australia Kutikina Australian Archaeology Murray P Kindersley Trotter M M and McCulloch If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.