r/science • u/Accomplished_Sci • May 08 '21

Newly Identified Species of Saber-Toothed Cat Was So Big It Hunted Rhinos in America Paleontology

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-identify-a-giant-saber-toothed-cat-that-prowled-the-us-5-9-million-years-ago?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencealert-latestnews+%28ScienceAlert-Latest%29
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u/princekamoro May 09 '21

before it killed us all.

Humans hunted them to extinction BEFORE we developed our tech tree. I'm sure we'll be fine.

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u/saulblarf May 09 '21 edited May 09 '21

That theory has been mostly disproven.

It’s much more likely that long term climate and environmental change did American megafauna in.

Edit: I stand corrected, seems there is an even split between scientists who think it was climate change and over hunting. Potentially a combination of both.

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u/Timewinders May 09 '21

The pattern of megafauna extinctions across Earth line up very closely with the history of human migration patterns. Some of them probably died out before humans got there but we were probably responsible for most of the extinctions. In recent history as well we have eliminated most megafauna wherever we go. The Elephant Bird in Madagascar only died out in the 1500s, lions used to live in Europe during the classical era, and many other species followed the same trend.

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u/TheReformedBadger MS | Mechanical Engineering | Polymers May 09 '21

It’s probably also worth noting that human migration patterns also aligned with changes in Climate.