Editing Megafauna (section)

===Timing and possible causes===
{{Main|Late Pleistocene extinctions}}
[[File:Large Mammals Africa Australia NAmerica Madagascar.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Correlations between times of first appearance of humans and unique megafaunal extinction pulses on different land masses]]
[[File:Ice Age Temperature.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Cyclical pattern of global [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]] over the last 450,000 years (based on Antarctic temperatures and global ice volume), showing that there were no unique climatic events that would account for any of the megafaunal extinction pulses]]

[[Late Pleistocene extinctions|Numerous extinctions]] occurred during the latter half of the [[Last Glacial Period]] when most large mammals went extinct in the [[Americas]], [[Australia-New Guinea]], and [[Eurasia]], including over 80% of all terrestrial animals with a body mass greater than {{Convert|1,000|kg|lb}}. Small animals and other organisms like plants were generally unaffected by the extinctions, which is unprecented in previous extinctions during the last 30 million years.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Svenning |first1=Jens-Christian |last2=Lemoine |first2=Rhys T. |last3=Bergman |first3=Juraj |last4=Buitenwerf |first4=Robert |last5=Le Roux |first5=Elizabeth |last6=Lundgren |first6=Erick |last7=Mungi |first7=Ninad |last8=Pedersen |first8=Rasmus Ø. |date=2024 |title=The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene |journal=Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |language=en |volume=2 |doi=10.1017/ext.2024.4 |issn=2755-0958 |doi-access=free|pmc=11895740 }}</ref>

Various theories have attributed the wave of extinctions to [[Quaternary extinction event#Hunting hypothesis|human hunting]], [[Quaternary extinction event#Climate change hypothesis|climate change]], [[Quaternary extinction event#Hyperdisease hypothesis|disease]], [[Younger Dryas impact event|extraterrestrial impact]], [[Competition (biology)|competition from other animals]] or other causes. However, this extinction near the end of the [[Pleistocene]] was just one of a series of megafaunal extinction pulses that have occurred during the last 50,000 years over much of the Earth's surface, with [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] (where the local megafauna had a chance to evolve alongside modern humans) being comparatively less affected. The latter areas did suffer gradual attrition of megafauna, particularly of the slower-moving species (a class of vulnerable megafauna epitomized by [[giant tortoise]]s), over the last several million years.<ref name="corlett">{{Cite journal | last1 = Corlett | first1 = R. T. | year = 2006 | title = Megafaunal extinctions in tropical Asia | url = http://www.tropicalbio.org/pastissues/tn_v17_n3_Sept_2006.pdf | journal = Tropinet | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 1–3 | access-date = 2010-10-04 | archive-date = 2016-03-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074435/http://www.tropicalbio.org/pastissues/tn_v17_n3_Sept_2006.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Edmeades">{{Cite web | last = Edmeades | first = Baz | title = Megafauna — First Victims of the Human-Caused Extinction | website= megafauna.com |publisher = (internet-published book with Foreword by [[Paul Schultz Martin|Paul S. Martin]]) | url = http://www.megafauna.com/ | access-date = 2020-02-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141225044106/http://megafauna.com/table-of-contents/ | archive-date = 2014-12-25  }}</ref>

Outside the mainland of [[Afro-Eurasia]], these megafaunal extinctions followed a highly distinctive landmass-by-landmass pattern that closely parallels the spread of humans into previously uninhabited regions of the world, and which shows no overall correlation with climatic history (which can be visualized with plots over recent geological time periods of climate markers such as [[:Image:Five Myr Climate Change.png|marine oxygen isotopes]] or [[:Image:Atmospheric CO2 with glaciers cycles.gif|atmospheric carbon dioxide levels]]).<ref name="Martin">{{cite book | last = Martin | first = P. S. | author-link = Paul Schultz Martin | title = Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America | publisher = [[University of California Press]] | year = 2005 | chapter = Chapter 6. Deadly Syncopation | pages = 118–128 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C&pg=PA118 | isbn = 978-0-520-23141-2 | oclc = 58055404 | access-date = 2014-11-11 | archive-date = 2024-03-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240327192513/https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Burney">{{Cite journal
 | last1 = Burney | first1 = D. A. 
 | last2=Flannery | first2 = T. F. | author-link2 = Tim Flannery
 | title = Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact
 | journal = Trends in Ecology & Evolution | volume = 20 | issue = 7 | pages = 395–401 | date = July 2005
 | url = http://web.njit.edu/~krussell/Required.pdf
 | doi = 10.1016/j.tree.2005.04.022 | pmid = 16701402 | access-date = 2014-11-11 
 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100610061434/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/Fieldschools/Kauai/Publications/Publication%204.pdf
 | archive-date= 2010-06-10 }}</ref> [[Australia]]<ref name="New Ages">{{Cite journal | last1 = Roberts | first1 = R. G. | last2 = Flannery | first2 = T. F. | author2-link = Tim Flannery | last3 = Ayliffe | first3 = L. K. | last4 = Yoshida | first4 = H. | last5 = Olley | first5 = J. M. | last6 = Prideaux | first6 = G. J. | last7 = Laslett | first7 = G. M. | last8 = Baynes | first8 = A. | last9 = Smith | first9 = M. A. | last10 = Jones | first10 = R. | last11 = Smith | first11 = B. L. | title = New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 292 | issue = 5523 | pages = 1888–1892 | date = 2001-06-08 | url = http://www.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@sci/@eesc/documents/doc/uow014698.pdf | doi = 10.1126/science.1060264 | access-date = 2011-08-26 | pmid = 11397939 | bibcode = 2001Sci...292.1888R | s2cid = 45643228 | archive-date = 2019-02-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190210051502/https://www.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@sci/@eesc/documents/doc/uow014698.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> and nearby islands (e.g., [[Flores]]<ref name="Callaway2016">{{cite journal
 |last1= Callaway|first1= E.|title=Human remains found in hobbit cave|journal= Nature|date= 2016-09-21|doi= 10.1038/nature.2016.20656|s2cid= 89272546}}</ref>) were struck first around 46,000 years ago, followed by [[Tasmania]] about 41,000 years ago (after formation of a land bridge to Australia about 43,000 years ago).<ref name="Diamond">{{Cite journal
 | last = Diamond | first = Jared | author-link = Jared Diamond | title = Palaeontology: The last giant kangaroo
 | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 454 | issue = 7206 |pages = 835–836 | date = 2008-08-13 | doi = 10.1038/454835a | pmid=18704074|bibcode = 2008Natur.454..835D| s2cid = 36583693 }}</ref><ref name="Turney">{{Cite journal
 | last1=Turney|first1=C. S. M.|last2=Flannery|first2=T. F.|last3=Roberts|first3=R. G.|last4=Reid|first4=C.|last5=Fifield|first5=L. K.|last6=Higham|first6=T. F. G.|last7=Jacobs|first7=Z.|last8=Kemp|first8=N.|last9=Colhoun|first9=E. A.|last10=Kalin|first10=R. M.|last11=Ogle|first11=N. | author-link2 =Tim Flannery | title = Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] | volume = 105 | issue = 34 | pages = 12150–12153 | date = 2008-08-21 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0801360105 | pmid=18719103 | pmc=2527880|bibcode = 2008PNAS..10512150T|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Lost Giants">{{Cite journal
 |last=Roberts
 |first=R.
 |author2=Jacobs, Z.
 |title=The Lost Giants of Tasmania
 |journal=[[Australasian Science]]
 |volume=29
 |issue=9
 |pages=14–17
 |date=October 2008
 |url=http://www.control.com.au/bi2008/299megafauna.pdf
 |access-date=2011-08-26
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927111457/http://www.control.com.au/bi2008/299megafauna.pdf
 |archive-date=2011-09-27
}}</ref> The role of humans in the extinction of Australia and New Guinea's megafauna has been disputed, with multiple studies showing a decline in the number of species prior to the arrival of humans on the continent and the absence of any evidence of human predation;<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Field|first1=Judith|last2=Wroe|first2=Stephen|last3=Trueman|first3=Clive N.|last4=Garvey|first4=Jillian|last5=Wyatt-Spratt|first5=Simon|date=2013-02-08|title=Looking for the archaeological signature in Australian Megafaunal extinctions|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618211002266|journal=Quaternary International|series=Peopling the last new worlds: the first colonisation of Sahul and the Americas|language=en|volume=285|pages=76–88|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.013|bibcode=2013QuInt.285...76F|issn=1040-6182|archive-date=2012-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218072629/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618211002266|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dodson|first1=John|last2=Field|first2=Judith H.|date=2018|title=What does the occurrence of Sporormiella (Preussia) spores mean in Australian fossil sequences?|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3020|journal=Journal of Quaternary Science|language=en|volume=33|issue=4|pages=380–392|doi=10.1002/jqs.3020|bibcode=2018JQS....33..380D|s2cid=133737405|issn=1099-1417|archive-date=2022-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214002000/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wroe|first1=Stephen|last2=Field|first2=Judith H.|last3=Archer|first3=Michael|last4=Grayson|first4=Donald K.|last5=Price|first5=Gilbert J.|last6=Louys|first6=Julien|last7=Faith|first7=J. Tyler|last8=Webb|first8=Gregory E.|last9=Davidson|first9=Iain|last10=Mooney|first10=Scott D.|date=2013-09-03|title=Reply to Brook et al: No empirical evidence for human overkill of megafauna in Sahul|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=110|issue=36|pages=E3369|doi=10.1073/pnas.1310440110|issn=0027-8424|pmid=24137797|pmc=3767508|bibcode=2013PNAS..110E3369W |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dortch|first1=Joe|last2=Cupper|first2=Matt|last3=Grün|first3=Rainer|last4=Harpley|first4=Bernice|last5=Lee|first5=Kerrie|last6=Field|first6=Judith|date=2016-08-01|title=The timing and cause of megafauna mass deaths at Lancefield Swamp, south-eastern Australia|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379116301949|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|language=en|volume=145|pages=161–182|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.042|bibcode=2016QSRv..145..161D|issn=0277-3791|archive-date=2024-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327192636/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379116301949|url-status=live}}</ref> the impact of climate change has instead been cited for their decline.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wroe|first1=Stephen|last2=Field|first2=Judith H.|last3=Archer|first3=Michael|last4=Grayson|first4=Donald K.|last5=Price|first5=Gilbert J.|last6=Louys|first6=Julien|last7=Faith|first7=J. Tyler|last8=Webb|first8=Gregory E.|last9=Davidson|first9=Iain|last10=Mooney|first10=Scott D.|date=2013-05-28|title=Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea)|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=110|issue=22|pages=8777–8781|doi=10.1073/pnas.1302698110|issn=0027-8424|pmid=23650401|pmc=3670326|bibcode=2013PNAS..110.8777W |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Similarly, [[Japan]] lost most of its megafauna apparently about 30,000 years ago,<ref name="Norton">{{Cite journal
 | last = Norton | first = C. J. |author2=Kondo, Y. |author3=Ono, A. |author4=Zhang, Y. |author5=Diab, M. C.
 | title = The nature of megafaunal extinctions during the MIS 3–2 transition in Japan
 | journal = [[Quaternary International]] | volume = 211 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 113–122
 | date = 2009-05-23 | doi = 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.05.002
 |bibcode = 2010QuInt.211..113N}}</ref> [[North America]] 13,000 years ago{{refn | Analysis indicates that 35 genera of North American mammals went extinct more or less simultaneously in this event.<ref name="Faith2009">{{cite journal|last1=Faith|first1=J. T.|last2=Surovell|first2=T. A.|title=Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals|journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume= 106|issue= 49|date= 2009-12-08|pages= 20641–20645|doi=10.1073/pnas.0908153106|pmid=19934040|pmc=2791611|bibcode=2009PNAS..10620641F|doi-access=free}}</ref>| group = note}} and [[South America]] about 500 years later,<ref name="Haynes">{{Cite book | first = Gary | last = Haynes | editor-last = Haynes | editor-first = Gary | contribution = Introduction to the Volume | contribution-url = http://www.springerlink.com/content/w314m76738r91g35/?p=5af1eb7387d443a2b514b284c646efa7&pi=0 | title = American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene | year = 2009 | pages = 1–20 | publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_1 | isbn = 978-1-4020-8792-9 | series = Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Fiedel">{{Cite book
 | first = Stuart | last = Fiedel | editor-last = Haynes | editor-first = Gary
 | contribution = Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction
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 | publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]
 | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2 | isbn = 978-1-4020-8792-9| series = Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology }}</ref> [[Prehistoric Cyprus|Cyprus]] 10,000 years ago,<ref name="Simmons1">{{Cite book | last = Simmons | first = A. H. | title = Faunal extinction in an island society: pygmy hippopotamus hunters of Cyprus | publisher = [[Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers]] | series = Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology | year = 1999 | page = 382 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hCwYwyEBXEAC | doi = 10.1007/b109876 | isbn = 978-0-306-46088-3 | oclc = 41712246 | access-date = 2016-05-07 | archive-date = 2024-03-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240327192513/https://books.google.com/books?id=hCwYwyEBXEAC | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Simmons2">{{Cite journal
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 | title = Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands
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 | volume = 102 | issue = 33 | pages = 11763–11768
 | date = 2005-08-16 |doi = 10.1073/pnas.0502777102 |pmid = 16085711
 | pmc = 1187974|bibcode = 2005PNAS..10211763S| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Cooke2017">{{cite journal|last1= Cooke|first1=S. B.|last2= Dávalos|first2=L. M.|last3= Mychajliw|first3=A. M.|last4= Turvey|first4=S. T.|last5= Upham|first5=N. S.|title= Anthropogenic Extinction Dominates Holocene Declines of West Indian Mammals|journal= Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics|volume= 48|issue= 1|year= 2017|pages= 301–327|doi= 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022754|s2cid=90558542 }}</ref> [[New Caledonia#Ecology|New Caledonia]]<ref name="Anderson">{{Cite journal
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 | title = Faunal extinction and human habitation in New Caledonia: Initial results and implications of new research at the Pindai Caves
 | journal = Journal of Pacific Archaeology | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 89–109
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 }}</ref> and nearby islands<ref name="White">{{Cite journal
 | last = White | first = A. W. |author2=Worthy, T. H. |author3=Hawkins, S. |author4=Bedford, S. |author5=Spriggs, M.
 | title = Megafaunal meiolaniid horned turtles survived until early human settlement in Vanuatu, Southwest Pacific
 | journal = [[PNAS|Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA]]
 | volume = 107 | issue = 35 | pages = 15512–15516
 | date = 2010-08-16 |doi = 10.1073/pnas.1005780107|bibcode = 2010PNAS..10715512W | pmid=20713711 | pmc=2932593| doi-access = free }}</ref> 3,000 years ago, [[Madagascar]] 2,000 years ago,<ref name="Madagascar">{{Cite journal
 | last = Burney | first = D. A. 
 |author2=Burney, L. P. |author3=Godfrey, L. R. |author4=Jungers, W. L. |author5=Goodman, S. M. |author6=Wright, H. T. |author7= Jull. A. J. T.
 | title = A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar
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 | date = July 2004 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.05.005 | pmid=15288523}}</ref> [[New Zealand]] 700 years ago,<ref name="Holdaway">{{cite journal
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 | date = 2000-03-24 | title = Rapid Extinction of the Moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes): Model, Test, and Implications
 | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 287 | issue = 5461 | pages = 2250–2254
 | doi = 10.1126/science.287.5461.2250 | pmid = 10731144 |bibcode = 2000Sci...287.2250H}}</ref> the [[Mascarene Islands|Mascarenes]] 400 years ago,<ref name="Janoo">{{Cite journal
 | last = Janoo | first = A. | title = Discovery of isolated dodo bones (''Raphus cucullatus'' (L.), Aves, Columbiformes) from Mauritius cave shelters highlights human predation, with a comment on the status of the family Raphidae Wetmore, 1930
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 | date = April 2005 | doi = 10.1016/j.annpal.2004.12.002
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 | last = Anderson | first = P. K. | title = Competition, Predation, and the Evolution and Extinction of Steller's Sea Cow, ''Hydrodamalis gigas''
 | journal = Marine Mammal Science | volume = 11 | issue = 3 | pages = 391–394
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 | bibcode = 1995MMamS..11..391A | access-date = 2011-08-30}}</ref> Nearly all of the world's isolated islands could furnish similar examples of extinctions occurring shortly after the arrival of [[human]]s, though most of these islands, such as the [[Hawaiian Islands]], never had terrestrial megafauna, so their [[List of extinct animals of the Hawaiian Islands|extinct fauna]] were smaller, but still displayed [[island gigantism]].<ref name="Martin"/><ref name="Burney"/>

An analysis of the timing of [[Holarctic]] megafaunal extinctions and extirpations over the last 56,000 years has revealed a tendency for such events to cluster within [[interstadial]]s, periods of abrupt warming, but only when humans were also present. Humans may have impeded processes of migration and recolonization that would otherwise have allowed the megafaunal species to adapt to the climate shift.<ref name="Cooper2015">{{cite journal|last1=Cooper|first1=A.|last2=Turney|first2=C.|last3=Hughen|first3=K. A.|last4=Brook|first4=B. W.|last5=McDonald|first5=H. G.|last6=Bradshaw|first6=C. J. A.|title=Abrupt warming events drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic megafaunal turnover|journal=Science|date=2015-07-23|doi=10.1126/science.aac4315|pmid=26250679|volume=349|issue=6248|pages=602–6|bibcode=2015Sci...349..602C|s2cid=31686497|doi-access=free}}</ref> In at least some areas, interstadials were periods of expanding human populations.<ref name="Müller2011">{{cite journal|last1=Müller|first1=U. C.|last2=Pross|first2=J.|last3=Tzedakis|first3=P. C.|last4=Gamble|first4=C.|last5=Kotthoff|first5=U.|last6=Schmiedl|first6=G.|last7=Wulf|first7=S.|last8=Christanis|first8=K.|title=The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe|journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]]|volume= 30|issue= 3–4|date= February 2011|pages= 273–279|doi= 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.11.016|bibcode=2011QSRv...30..273M}}</ref>

An analysis of ''[[Sporormiella]]'' fungal spores (which derive mainly from the dung of megaherbivores) in swamp sediment cores spanning the last 130,000 years from [[Lynch's Crater]] in [[Queensland]], Australia, showed that the megafauna of that region virtually disappeared about 41,000 years ago, at a time when [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]]s were minimal; the change was accompanied by an increase in charcoal, and was followed by a transition from rainforest to fire-tolerant [[sclerophyll]] vegetation. The high-resolution chronology of the changes supports the hypothesis that human hunting alone eliminated the megafauna, and that the subsequent change in flora was most likely a consequence of the elimination of browsers and an increase in fire.<ref name="Biello">{{cite web
 | last = Biello
 | first = D.
 | title = Big Kill, Not Big Chill, Finished Off Giant Kangaroos
 | work = Scientific American news
 | date = 2012-03-22
 | url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hunters-killed-off-big-animals-australia
 | access-date = 2012-03-25
 | archive-date = 2012-03-23
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 | url-status = live
 }}</ref><ref name="McGlone">{{cite journal
 | last = McGlone | first = M. | title = The Hunters Did It
 | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]]
 | volume = 335 | issue = 6075 | pages = 1452–1453
 | date = 2012-03-23 | doi = 10.1126/science.1220176 | pmid = 22442471 
 |bibcode = 2012Sci...335.1452M| s2cid = 36914192 }}</ref><ref name="Rule">{{cite journal
 | last = Rule | first = S. |author2=Brook, B. W. |author3=Haberle, S. G. |author4=Turney, C. S. M. |author5=Kershaw, A. P.
 | title = The Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem Transformation in Pleistocene Australia
 | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]]
 | volume = 335 | issue = 6075 | pages = 1483–1486
 | date = 2012-03-23 | doi = 10.1126/science.1214261
 |bibcode = 2012Sci...335.1483R | pmid=22442481| s2cid = 26675232 }}</ref><ref name="Johnson2016"/> The increase in fire lagged the disappearance of megafauna by about a century, and most likely resulted from accumulation of fuel once browsing stopped. Over the next several centuries grass increased; sclerophyll vegetation increased with a lag of another century, and a sclerophyll forest developed after about another thousand years.<ref name="Rule"/> During two periods of climate change about 120,000 and 75,000 years ago, sclerophyll vegetation had also increased at the site in response to a shift to cooler, drier conditions; neither of these episodes had a significant impact on megafaunal abundance.<ref name="Rule"/> Similar conclusions regarding the culpability of human hunters in the disappearance of Pleistocene megafauna were derived from high-resolution chronologies obtained via an analysis of a large collection of eggshell fragments of the flightless Australian bird ''[[Genyornis newtoni]]'',<ref name="Miller1999">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.283.5399.205 |pmid = 9880249 |title = Pleistocene Extinction of ''Genyornis newtoni'': Human Impact on Australian Megafauna |journal = Science |volume = 283 |issue = 5399 |pages = 205–208 |date = 1999-01-08 |last1 = Miller | first1 = G. H. |last2 = Magee |first2 = J. W. |last3 = Johnson |first3 = B. J. |last4 = Fogel |first4 = M. L. |last5 = Spooner |first5 = N. A. |last6 = McCulloch |first6 = M. T. |last7 = Ayliffe |first7 = L. K.}}</ref><ref name="MillerMagee2016">{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=G.|last2= Magee|first2=J.|last3= Smith|first3=M.|last4= Spooner|first4=N.|last5= Baynes|first5=A.|last6= Lehman|first6=S.|last7=Fogel|first7=M.|last8= Johnston|first8=H.|last9= Williams|first9=D.|last10= Clark|first10=P.|last11= Florian|first11=C.|last12= Holst|first12=R.|last13= DeVogel|first13=S.|title=Human predation contributed to the extinction of the Australian megafaunal bird Genyornis newtoni ~47 ka|journal=Nature Communications|volume= 7|date=2016-01-29|page= 10496|doi=10.1038/ncomms10496|pmid=26823193|pmc=4740177|bibcode=2016NatCo...710496M}}</ref><ref name="Johnson2016">{{cite journal | last1= Johnson|first1=C. N.|last2= Alroy|first2= J.|last3= Beeton|first3=N. J.|last4= Bird|first4=M. I.|last5= Brook|first5=B. W.|last6= Cooper|first6= A.|last7= Gillespie|first7= R.|last8= Herrando-Pérez|first8= S.|last9= Jacobs|first9= Z.|last10= Miller|first10=G. H.|last11= Prideaux|first11=G. J.|last12= Roberts|first12=R. G.|last13= Rodríguez-Rey|first13= M.|last14= Saltré|first14= F.|last15= Turney|first15=C. S. M.|last16= Bradshaw|first16=C. J. A. | title= What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul? | journal= Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume= 283 | issue= 1824 | page= 20152399 | date= 10 February 2016 | doi= 10.1098/rspb.2015.2399|pmid=26865301|pmc=4760161}}</ref> from analysis of ''Sporormiella'' fungal spores from a lake in eastern North America<ref name="Johnson2009">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1182770 |pmid = 19965418 |title = Megafaunal Decline and Fall |journal = Science |volume = 326 |issue = 5956 |pages = 1072–1073 |date = 2009-11-20 |last1 = Johnson | first1 = C.|bibcode = 2009Sci...326.1072J |s2cid = 206523763 }}</ref><ref name="Gill2009">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1126/science.1179504 |pmid = 19965426 |title = Pleistocene Megafaunal Collapse, Novel Plant Communities, and Enhanced Fire Regimes in North America |journal = Science |volume = 326 |issue = 5956 |pages = 1100–1103 |date = 2009-11-20 |last1 = Gill |first1 = J. L. |last2 = Williams |first2 = J. W. |last3 = Jackson |first3 = S. T. |last4 = Lininger |first4 = K. B. |last5 = Robinson |first5 = G. S. |bibcode = 2009Sci...326.1100G |s2cid = 206522597 |url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/210391/files/PAL_E4398.pdf |access-date = 2018-11-09 |archive-date = 2017-09-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170922021056/http://doc.rero.ch/record/210391/files/PAL_E4398.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> and from study of deposits of [[Shasta ground sloth]] dung left in over half a dozen caves in the American Southwest.<ref name = "Fiedal2009">{{Cite book | first = Stuart | last = Fiedal | editor-last = Haynes | editor-first = Gary | contribution = Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction | title = American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene | year = 2009 | pages = 21–37 | publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2 | isbn = 978-1-4020-8792-9 | series = Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology }}</ref><ref name="Martin2005b">{{cite book | last = Martin | first = P. S. | author-link = Paul Schultz Martin | title = Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America | publisher = [[University of California Press]] | year = 2005 | chapter = Chapter 4. Ground Sloths at Home | pages = 78–99 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C&pg=PA78 | isbn = 978-0-520-23141-2 | oclc = 58055404 | access-date = 2014-11-11 | archive-date = 2024-03-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240327192513/https://books.google.com/books?id=gfpla1OY268C | url-status = live }}</ref>

Continuing human hunting and environmental disturbance has led to additional [[Holocene extinction#Ongoing Holocene extinction|megafaunal extinctions in the recent past]], and has created a [[IUCN Red List critically endangered species|serious danger of further extinctions]] in the near future (see examples below). Direct killing by humans, primarily for meat or other body parts, is the most significant factor in contemporary megafaunal decline.<ref>{{cite news|last=Milman|first=Oliver|date=February 6, 2019|title=The killing of large species is pushing them towards extinction, study finds|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/06/the-killing-of-large-species-is-pushing-them-towards-extinction-study-finds|work=The Guardian|access-date=February 13, 2019|archive-date=February 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207231757/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/06/the-killing-of-large-species-is-pushing-them-towards-extinction-study-finds|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=W. J.|last=Ripple|display-authors=etal.|year=2019|title=Are we eating the world's megafauna to extinction?|journal=Conservation Letters|volume=12|issue=3|page=e12627|doi=10.1111/conl.12627|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019ConL...12E2627R }}</ref>

A number of other [[Extinction event|mass extinction]]s occurred earlier in Earth's geologic history, in which some or all of the megafauna of the time also died out. Famously, in the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]], the non-avian dinosaurs and most other giant reptiles were eliminated. However, the earlier mass extinctions were more global and not so selective for megafauna; i.e., many species of other types, including plants, marine invertebrates<ref name="Alroy">{{Cite journal
 | last = Alroy | first = J. | title = Dynamics of origination and extinction in the marine fossil record
 | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|PNAS]]
 | volume = 105 Suppl 1 | pages = 11536–11542 | date = 2008-08-12 | pmid = 18695240
 | pmc = 2556405 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0802597105 |bibcode = 2008PNAS..10511536A
 | issue = Supplement_1| doi-access = free }}</ref> and plankton, went extinct as well. Thus, the earlier events must have been caused by more generalized types of disturbances to the [[biosphere]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=D'Hondt |first=Steven |date=2005-12-01 |title=Consequences of the Cretaceous/Paleogene Mass Extinction for Marine Ecosystems |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.021103.105715 |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=295–317 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.021103.105715 |issn=1543-592X}}</ref>