Giant Megafauna Lived Alongside Humans As Recently As 3,500 Years Ago

Have you ever wondered how long some species of megafauna may have actually existed for? Well, recent studies have challenged the traditional belief that mammalian megafauna went extinct at the beginning of the Holocene, around 11,700 years ago.

For example, researchers have found fossil evidence suggesting that woolly mammoths were still roaming the Earth as recent as 4,000 years ago. And now, new discoveries in South America show that giant sloths and camel-like animals survived until around 3,500 years ago.

This new evidence not only raises questions about the cause of the planet’s most recent large animal extinction but also highlights that it was not a uniform event.

Geologist Fábio Henrique Cortes Faria and his team from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, conducted carbon dating on megafauna specimens found in Brazil. Surprisingly, they found that some of these creatures, like the extinct llama Palaeolama major and the camel-like Xenorhinotherium bahiense, were much younger than previously thought.

These findings suggest that megafauna coexisted with humans in South America for a longer period than previously believed. This challenges existing theories that attribute the extinction of these creatures to human hunting or environmental changes.

Rather than a sudden event, the extinction of megafauna in South America may have been a gradual process that varied across different regions. This study sheds light on the complex dynamics that led to the diversity loss of Pleistocene mammals over time.

So, it seems that the story of megafauna and their extinction is more intricate and fascinating than we once thought. The study, published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences, opens up new avenues for understanding the history of these incredible creatures.