Human hunting, not climate change, played a decisive role in the extinction of large mammals over the last 50,000 years. This conclusion comes from researchers who reviewed over 300 scientific articles. Human hunting of mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths was consistent across the world.

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#HumanHunting #Extinction #LargeMammals #Research #PrehistoricHunters

Sloths on brink of extinction by the end of the century due to climate change | Researchers found that sloths are responding to rising temperatures by having a slower metabolism and limited ability to regulate body temperature may leave them unable to survive.

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#Sloths #Extinction #ClimateChange #Researchers #Survival

Hidden for over a century, a preserved Tasmanian Tiger head "found in a bucket" may bring the lost species back from extinction

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#TasmanianTiger #Extinction #WildlifeConservation #RareFind #PreservedHistory

Study extends chart of life by nearly 1.5 billion years. Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a new Virginia Tech analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago.

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#ChartOfLife #Evolution #Extinction #Fossils #VirginiaTech

🐺 A 14,400-year-old wolf puppy's last meal of woolly rhinoceros meat, discovered in Siberia, is providing new insights into the extinction of this iconic Ice Age megafauna.

🔬 Scientists sequenced the full genome from the rhino meat found in the wolf puppy's stomach, a feat never before accomplished with an Ice Age animal found inside another.

🦴 The wolf puppy and her sister were found in permafrost near the Siberian village of Tumat in 2011 and 2015, with the puppy's remains dissected in 2022. DNA confirmed the meat was woolly rhinoceros and the animals were wolves, not dogs.

📈 The recovered rhino DNA indicates it belonged to a genetically healthy and large population, suggesting inbreeding was not a significant factor in the species' decline before extinction.

#IceAge #Paleontology #Extinction