Data on slight variations of the pull of gravity over the oceans are recorded with satellite altimetry, and are then combined to map the seafloor globally.
CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO WEBSITE
Posted on 12/04/2014 6:03:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv
I don’t believe any of that. You’re saying the paltry amount of humans then overcame the extensive population of Dire wolves, Short faced bears (a running bear 5 foot at the shoulder), American lions and saber tooth tigers. As a hunter I don’t think so. more likely a sudden deep freeze or heat wave killed them all off because it happened suddenly.
Not what I said at all. Try reading my post again.
Couple facts:
Dozens of large animal species disappeared in a very brief period, from a historical POV.
This occurred shortly after the most widely accepted date for humans arriving in the Americas.
I am not stating that B caused A, only that if there were no connection it would be a truly amazing coincidence.
There are lots of explanations proffered, but none that make a great deal of sense.
As for the “climate change” being to blame idea, the extinction did occur shortly after the end of the last glacial period. But many of these species had lived through a dozen or more glacial/interglacial cycles, but disappeared all at the same time after the most recent one.
Not limited to the Americas, BTW. The only parts of the world where megafauna survived in large numbers are those areas where humans and the megafauna are claimed to have evolved together, Africa and South Asia. Everywhere else the megafauna disappeared, and generally within a short time after humans arriving.
IOW, heck if I know.
There are some suggestions too that the short face bear was so formidable it kept humans out of North America for many years. There is a skull on display in the natural history museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. Imagine being on the plains and having one of these creatures after you, an enormous running bear, very much different then the bears today.
Right.
Australians never made it to New Zealand or any of the Pacific Islands, but did make it to South America.
Thanks Sherman, I just always figured there was some catastrophic event did the deed. As you said, they were conditioned to the cold. the Quails in my state were to, but the cold of 1976 in my state killed nearly all of them.
There were previous extinction events at the end of previous glacial stages. But none as massive. Also this most recent one affected primarily large animals, and all of the largest died out. Previous such events tended to affect animal species of all types, and it’s difficult to imagine how a “natural” event would target large species.
I put scare quotes around natural because if you believe in evolution then human-caused extinctions are as natural as those caused by any other factor.
If a large number of large species had been around for two million years, including more than a dozen glacial cycles, then all disappeared within a few centuries, leaving most smaller species unaffected, within a short period after human arrival, that is a truly amazing coincidence.
I suspect the weak link in the “humans did it” theory is that humans may very well have been around for a lot longer than the theory allows.
The massive slaughter idea would be more logical if the ancient Indians had AK-47s. But they apparently didn’t even have bows.
The animals being “naive” about the danger of humans might allow you to get really close, close enough to use a spear, but it’s not going to be much help once you put your spear into a mammoth or a short-faced bear that doesn’t die immediately.
I still find it hard to believe humans had any more effect than any of the other predators. They obviously were not the top of the food chain. They also probably only killed one animal at a time, despite evidence of buffalo jumps. I once got a deer so far back in the woods I had to get a wheelbarrow to bring it out halfway, lol.
“It’s incredible the human race barely survived the short face bear alone.”
There was a great article here on FR years ago about the theory of Saber Tooth cats using the Bering Strait land bridge as a feeding ground.
That would make for a good movie.
Was just reading through pings again and wondered how satellite images can scan the deepest parts of the ocean?
Data on slight variations of the pull of gravity over the oceans are recorded with satellite altimetry, and are then combined to map the seafloor globally.
CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO WEBSITE
I wonder how much weight I can lose just by going somewhere else? LOL
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