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Megafauna Extinction Due to Climate

jvchamary writes "Most biologists believe that Earth is currently undergoing its sixth mass extinction. The cause? Human activity, either directly (e.g. the Dodo) or indirectly (e.g. the Amazon rainforests). The disappearance 30,000-45,000 years ago of the Australian megafauna, large animals such as the marsupial lion, is often attributed to hunting by Aboriginal settlers. However, recent research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that it was more likely a shift in climate, rather than hunting, that caused the over-sized organisms to die-out (via Nature and the BBC)."

5 of 481 comments (clear)

  1. good luck by cryptoz · · Score: 0, Troll

    So, with any luck, all humans will soon be extinct?! I like this idea! I mean, the world would be so much nicer without people on it, when you think about it, and all the damange we've done. It brings up the question, "If you could press a button, and kill all humans on the planet (painlessly), would you?"

  2. Re:Define 'winning' ... by Seumas · · Score: 0, Troll

    There are two kinds of species on this planet:

    Those that become oil and those who consume oil.

    I know which one I want to be on. And so do you, if you're a decent, patriotic, god-fearing Amerikan!

  3. Re:Human Cause? by TheHulk · · Score: 0, Troll

    I make this point way too often when I come across these kinds of articles. The "evidence" is laughable. I'll admit I'm a Christian so of course I have my own opinions. But if you seriously read the language:

    "The next such event, near the end of the Devonian Period, may or may not have been the result of global climate change. 19% of families lost."

    What does it take to make a claim like that? And then it goes on to say the most recent mass extinction was either caused by a meteor or natural causes. Wow really? So it was either something from outside our planet or something within. Brilliant. Yes this is a flame because this kind of crap makes me hot.

    Now, if you take what this article claims, and hand it to the other group of scientists who preach religously that humans are causing the fractions of degrees change in climate called global warming, they totally contradict eachother. I agree with your post that humans do have an impact, but I'm of the impression the Earth is far more resilient than people think(forget the fact that I also believe God is in control anyway). I also don't think we should trash what God has given us, waste it, or take it for granted.

    I actually love science, but I see it as someone breaking open a computer that somone else built to see how it works. This theoretical science is mostly a waste, and to hang your hat on it and use it to debate bigger issues is equally a waste. Typically, if you wait long enough, some other scientist(s) will come out with another paper that contradicts the previous one. Anyway, I've ranted enough...

  4. Babel Fishy Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    "Most biologists believe that Earth is currently undergoing its sixth mass extinction."

    Apply the Babel Fishy translator and you get:

    "Some biologists believe environmental hysteria is a good way to get more grant money."

    Babel Fishy, for those who want to know the truth behind the spin.

  5. Re:Survival of the fittest? by Artifakt · · Score: 0, Troll

    There's an original quote from Darwin himself:

    "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla."

    Charles Darwin - The Descent of Man

    So yes, at least some Evolutionists didn't care if some 'animals' became extinct. I think there's not just some slight trace of racism in that paragraph, but a general callousness towards life that is anti-survival, even the survival of the "more evolved" parts of the human race and not just their 'inferiors'. However, I expect to get modded down for this one. Darwin is a Holy Prophet to some people, and the truth can't be allowed to tarnish the Prophet's name.

    --
    Who is John Cabal?