All  
Home / megafauna

megafauna

Skeleton of a prehistoric cave bear. Source: Fizped / CC BY-SA 3.0
16 August, 2019 - 05:13 Ed Whelan

Humans A Major Factor In the Extinction of Giant Cave Bears

Until 25,000 years ago, Europe was home to some of the largest mammals, that ever lived. One of the most remarkable of the megafauna was the gigantic cave bear. Why these massive animals and other...
An illustration shows the approximate height of a giant penguin next to a woman. Source: Canterbury Museum
16 August, 2019 - 01:39 ancient-origins

Huge Penguins Added to the List of New Zealand’s Extinct Species

A new species of giant penguin - about 1.6 meters (5.25 ft.) tall - has been identified from fossils found in Waipara, North Canterbury. The discovery of Crossvallia waiparensis , a monster penguin...
3 Foot Tall Parrot Species Discovered On New Zealand, Island Of Feathered Giants
7 August, 2019 - 22:35 ashley cowie

3 Foot Tall Parrot Species Discovered On New Zealand, Island Of Feathered Giants

Scientists have uncovered fossilized leg bones from a gigantic parrot that once inhabited Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. The St. Bathans fauna comprises a rich suite of fossilized...
The Brosno Dragon. Source: Fergregory / Adobe.
23 May, 2019 - 14:02 Sarah P Young

The Brosno Dragon: The Loch Ness Monster’s Evil Russian Cousin?

Most people are familiar with the legendary Loch Ness Monster – a mysterious cryptid said to lurk in the depth of Loch Ness in Scotland. The Brosno Dragon, which is also known as Brosnya, is a...
A saber-toothed cat stands atop a boulder on a grassy plain. Credit: Daniel / Adobe Stock
8 May, 2019 - 23:00 ancient-origins

Of Bunyips and Other Beasts: Evidence of Extinct Megafauna Displayed in Art and Stories

On many continents during the last ice age , typically from about 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, species of megafauna that had lived there for hundreds of thousands of years became extinct...
Artistic representation by Heinrich Harder of humans hunting glyptodon, a megafauna that lived during the Pleistocene period.
19 October, 2018 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

Pleistocene Epoch: Humans, Welcome to Earth

The Pleistocene epoch is a geologic epoch which began around 2.6 Mya (Million years ago) and came to an end around 11,700 BP (Before Present). It is characterized by lower sea levels than the present...
A diprotodon (Peter Trusler) in the Australian outback.
17 September, 2018 - 19:08 Veronica Parkes

Diprotodon: The Massive Marsupial that Roamed Australia 5.3 Million Years Ago

Today, Australia contains many wild and wondrous animals, and not much has changed over the past millions of years. The diprotodon is an animal that roamed Australia 5.3 million years ago. It was the...
Giant elephant birds, once the largest birds in the world, may have coexisted with people for millennia.
15 September, 2018 - 13:56 ancient-origins

Humans were Hunting the Largest Bird in the World on Madagascar 10,500 Years Ago

Analysis of elephant bird bones, once the largest bird in the world, has revealed that humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than previously thought. They...
Artists impression of a giant sloth being confronted by human hunters. Credit: Alex McClelland, Bournemouth University
1 May, 2018 - 02:00 ancient-origins

How to Hunt a Giant Sloth – Ancient Tactics Revealed in Human Footprints

Rearing on its hind legs, the giant ground sloth would have been a formidable prey for anyone, let alone humans without modern weapons. Tightly muscled, angry and swinging its fore legs tipped with...
Several types of mammoths walked the earth during the Pleistocene epoch.
21 April, 2018 - 23:02 ancient-origins

Unprecedented Wave of Large-mammal Extinctions Linked to Prehistoric Humans

Homo sapiens , Neanderthals and other recent human relatives may have begun hunting large mammal species down to size -- by way of extinction -- at least 90,000 years earlier than previously thought...
A fictional animal based on the glyptodon and a palaeoburrow (ichnofossil) found in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Scientists say that this mega-tunnel was created by a long extinct species.
11 April, 2017 - 23:04 Theodoros Karasavvas

What Giant Beasts Carved Out these South American Mega-Tunnels?

Immense tunnels found in the heart of the jungle in Brazil are thought to have been the den of a gruesome wild animal. Experts doubt that huge burrows were created by a natural geologic process and...
A representation of Zygomaturus with real-life but small Homo sapiens, Mungo National Park. Jane McDonald, Author provided
15 January, 2017 - 14:55 ancient-origins

Aboriginal Australians Co-Existed with the Megafauna for at Least 17,000 Years

Australia was once home to giant reptiles, marsupials and birds (and some not so giant), but the extinction of this megafauna has been the subject of a debate that has persisted since the 19th...
A woolly mammoth meets a meteor strike
6 November, 2015 - 00:41 ralph

The Carolina Bays and the Destruction of North America

This is an ancient and enduring mystery from pre-historic North America, involving geology, astronomy, climatology and zoology. And unravelling this mystery will tell us a great deal about our world...
Mammoth hunting scene
1 January, 2015 - 00:49 Mark Miller

First humans in Florida lived alongside giant animals

Recent research has confirmed an old theory that the first humans in Florida lived alongside giant animals that have since become extinct. A geologist made the proposal a century ago following the...
5 June, 2014 - 23:52 aprilholloway

New study blames humans for megafauna extinction

A new study published in the journal Quaternary International has added fuel to the long-running debate about how megafauna, such as woolly mammoths, giant sloths, and mastodons, became extinct, an...