About half of megafaunal species heavier than roughly 100 lb vanished during the late-Pleistocene extinction wave. Mammoths, mastodons, Camelops, Arctodus and Castoroides were among the losses. Cave bears had disappeared earlier, while Irish elk and dire wolves survived into the Holocene. Castoroides weighed a few hundred pounds, not 5,600 lb. The speaker rejects the 1960s overkill—or “blitz”—hypothesis and argues that a cosmic encounter roughly 11,000–14,000 years ago triggered a cascade of ecological effects. That is the speaker’s theory, not an established explanation.
About half of megafauna over 100 lb vanished in the late-Pleistocene extinctions
Key facts
- The roughly 50% estimate applies to megafaunal species above about 45 kg (100 lb), not to megafauna generally; the losses occurred across the late Pleistocene.
- Mammoths, mastodons, Camelops, Arctodus and Castoroides were among the losses. Cave bears disappeared earlier, while Irish elk and dire wolves persisted into the Holocene.
- Castoroides weighed a few hundred pounds, not 5,600 lb.
- The overkill, later called the blitz, hypothesis was first proposed in the 1960s.
- The speaker argues—not as established fact—that a cosmic encounter roughly 11,000–14,000 years ago triggered cascading ecological effects.
Sources
Pleistocene Epoch - Megafaunal Extinctionsbritannica.com
The extinction event is most distinct in North America, where 32 genera of large mammals vanished during an interval of about 2,000 years, ...
Worldwide Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene ...nature.com
by J Bergman · 2023 · Cited by 105 — Furthermore, the estimated median rate is negative for 93% (129/139) of species, indicating that megafauna species generally experienced a ...
Late Pleistocene extinctionsen.wikipedia.org
Overall, during the Late Pleistocene about 65% of all megafaunal species worldwide became extinct, rising to 72% in North America, 83% in South America and 88% ...
Why Did the Ice Age Titans Go Extinct?nhm.org
Around 12,700 years ago, North America lost 70 percent of its large mammals—a megafaunal extinction event paleontologists and archaeologists ...
Late Pleistocene megafauna extinction leads to missing ...pnas.org
more than 40% of mammals have lost at least 80% of their historical range … 71.4% of browsers, 89% of grazers, and 80% of mixed feeders >1 kg ...
Holocene extinctionen.wikipedia.org
The Holocene extinction was preceded by the Late Pleistocene extinctions at the end of the last ice age (to which human activity also likely contributed)
Megafauna Depletion and Holocene Ecological Networkssantafe.edu
It is well known that toward the end of the Pleistocene, a striking number of large-bodied animals went extinct. But the continuing decline of megafauna also ...
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