Can anyone tell me what a Australian Megafauna is?
Answer:
Saltwater Crocodile
Megafauna is a term generally applied to animals that weigh over 100 lbs (44 kg), with great longevity, slow population growth rates, low death rates, and few or no natural predators capable of killing adults. These characteristics make megafauna highly vulnerable to human exploitation.
Big animals. Think red and grey kangaroos, emus, and maybe koalas and wallabies.
Australian megafauna is a term used to describe a number of comparatively large animal species in Australia. These species became extinct during the Pleistocene (20,000-50,000 years before present), but exact dates for their extinction have been lacking until recently.
The cause of the extinction is an active and contentious field of research. It is hypothesised that with the arrival of humans (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), hunting and the use of fire to manage their environment may have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. Increased aridity during peak glaciation (about 18,000 years ago) may have also contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. Some proponents claim climate change alone caused extinction of the megafauna, but these arguments do not account for the fact that megaufaunal species comfortably survived 2 million years of climatic oscillations, including a number of arid glacial periods, before their sudden extinction.
New evidence based on accurate optical luminescence and Uranium-thorium dating of megafaunal remains suggests that humans were the ultimate cause of the extinction of megafauna in Australia. The dates derived show that all forms of megafauna became extinct in the same rapid timeframe — approximately 47,000 years ago — the period of time in which humans first arrived in Australia. The dates derived suggest the main mechanism for extinction was human burning of a then much less fire-adapted landscape; analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna indicate sudden, drastic, non-climate-related changes in vegetation and the diet of surviving marsupial species, as well as the loss of megafaunal species. Further analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna indicate the arid regional climates at the time of extinction were similar to arid regional climates of today, and that the megafauna were well adapted to arid climates.
Australian megafauna is a term used to describe a number of comparatively large animal species in Australia. These species became extinct during the Pleistocene (20,000-50,000 years before present), but exact dates for their extinction have been lacking until recently.
The cause of the extinction is an active and contentious field of research. It is hypothesised that with the arrival of humans (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), hunting and the use of fire to manage their environment may have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna.[1] Increased aridity during peak glaciation (about 18,000 years ago) may have also contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. Some proponents claim climate change alone caused extinction of the megafauna, but these arguments do not account for the fact that megaufaunal species comfortably survived 2 million years of climatic oscillations, including a number of arid glacial periods, before their sudden extinction.
New evidence based on accurate optical luminescence and Uranium-thorium dating of megafaunal remains suggests that humans were the ultimate cause of the extinction of megafauna in Australia.[2] The dates derived show that all forms of megafauna became extinct in the same rapid timeframe — approximately 47,000 years ago — the period of time in which humans first arrived in Australia. The dates derived suggest the main mechanism for extinction was human burning of a then much less fire-adapted landscape; analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna indicate sudden, drastic, non-climate-related changes in vegetation and the diet of surviving marsupial species, as well as the loss of megafaunal species. Further analysis of oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna indicate the arid regional climates at the time of extinction were similar to arid regional climates of today, and that the megafauna were well adapted to arid climates.
the really big animals that existed
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