Man-Made Fire Blamed for Australian Extinctions

JeiFuRi writes "Around 50,000 years ago, many large Australian animals died off with the arrival of man. From a study carried out by the Carnegie Institution, we now know that the continent's earliest settlers caused these extinctions through their use of fire. In addition, it may have altered the ecosystem of ancient Australia and brought about it's collapse. Futher commentary at BBC News, newKerala, and Red Nova." "Know" is a strong word; the study suggests this may be the case, though.

Comments

Re:Why not non-human causes?

[dbIII]

without talking to anyone in the field that they're guessing about

I think if you check the citations for the paper you would find otherwise - I know that sometime in the 1980s this theory was popular in Australia and was described on information signs at Kakadu National Park in the north of Australia. It is known as firestick farming.

Re:Hello Editors!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Its" is not an exception. It is a possessive pronoun, and follows the same rule that governs almost all other possessive pronouns: one writes "his", not "hi's"; "hers", not "her's"; and "its", not "it's".