Cow Could Soon Be Largest Land Mammal Left Due To Human Activity, Says Study (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The cow could be left as the biggest land mammal on Earth in a few centuries, according to a new study that examines the extinction of large mammals as humans spread around the world. The spread of hominims -- early humans and related species such as Neanderthals -- from Africa thousands of years ago coincided with the extinction of megafauna such as the mammoth, the sabre-toothed tiger and the glyptodon, an armadillo-like creature the size of a car. "There is a very clear pattern of size-biased extinction that follows the migration of hominims out of Africa," the study's lead author, Felisa Smith, of the University of New Mexico, said of the study published in the journal Science on Thursday. Humans apparently targeted big species for meat, while smaller creatures such as rodents escaped, according the report, which examined trends over 125,000 years. In North America, for instance, the mean body mass of land-based mammals has shrunk to 7.6kg (17lb) from 98kg after humans arrived. If the trend continues "the largest mammal on Earth in a few hundred years may well be a domestic cow at about 900kg", the researchers wrote. That would mean the loss of elephants, giraffes and hippos. In March, the world's last male northern white rhino died in Kenya.

Comments

Cows?

[UncleTogie]

Are moose endangered or something?

Re:Cows?

[Anonymous Coward]

so never? meat and milk substitutes still suck arse, only vegans and vegetarians or the ignorant make the claims that it tastes almost as good. Anybody that eats quality meat or milk products just about throws up at the bland garbage being produced as substitutes.

Re:Cows?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you still drink coffee or eat soy products? Those cause more deforestation than any amount of ranching or livestock raising.

The greatest evolutionary adaptation is:

[DalM]

Being tasty or useful to humans.

Re:Uday and Qusay

[ShanghaiBill]

Having a bunch of entitled jackoffs running around Africa gunning down and mutilating big game doesn't help the situation.

Actually, it does help. Big game hunters pay high fees that are used for habitat conservation. They also create jobs for local people that then see wildlife as an economic benefit, rather than just seeing them as crop/livestock destroying pests.

Wildlife in Africa would be much better off if there were more Western big game hunters.

Re:Uday and Qusay

[PopeRatzo]

Wildlife in Africa would be much better off if there were more Western big game hunters.

You might want to tell that to the white rhinoceros. There are three left in the world today because baby-dick failsons like Eric and Don Jr went around blasting them to hell,

We're talking about guys whose "sport" requires that something die. They're sociopaths. There are better ways of managing wildlife than trophy hunting.

Re:Uday and Qusay

[stealth_finger]

Wildlife in Africa would be much better off if there were more Western big game hunters.

You might want to tell that to the white rhinoceros. There are three left in the world today because baby-dick failsons like Eric and Don Jr went around blasting them to hell,

We're talking about guys whose "sport" requires that something die. They're sociopaths. There are better ways of managing wildlife than trophy hunting.

I'm no fan of hunting but there's a big difference between it and poaching.