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Megaherbivores

All articles tagged with #megaherbivores

archaeology1 year ago•4 min saved

"1.4 Million-Year-Old Quicksand Trap Reveals Prehistoric Human and Mammoth Remains"

Researchers from the University of Malaga have discovered that the Orce archaeological site in Spain, dating back 1.4 million years, functioned as a natural quicksand trap for large mammals. This site, known for its abundance of extinct elephant remains, also contains some of the oldest evidence of human activity in Western Europe, including lithic tools and bones with anthropogenic marks. The findings provide significant insights into the survival strategies and competition between early humans and scavenging hyenas.

via SciTechDaily|

#archaeology #early-pleistocene #human-activity

science2 years ago•4 min saved

Uncovering the Rapid Growth of Prehistoric Thunder Beasts.

Brontotheres, the rhino-like herbivorous mammals that lived during the Eocene Epoch, evolved from dog-size animals to nearly elephant-sized creatures relatively quickly due to competition and extinction of smaller species. The study suggests that becoming large herbivores benefited brontotheres, and smaller species were more vulnerable to competition and predation. However, the herbivorous titans lost their survival edge when the Eocene’s humid greenhouse conditions started winding down, causing their extinction. The study provides a new perspective on what drives the evolution of body size and proposes a pathway to reach megaherbivory that needs to be tested in other mammalian groups.

via CNN|

#brontotheres #evolution #extinction