How Cyprus' dwarf hippos and elephants were really driven extinct

September 19, 2024

Imma Perfetto
Cosmos science journalist

There’s new evidence that humans drove to extinction the unique megafauna on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Dwarf hippopotamuses and elephants once roamed the island, but they disappeared soon after palaeolithic humans arrived on the scene about 14,000 years ago.




A new modelling study estimates that the likely population of hunter-gatherers in Late Pleistocene Cyprus – 3,000 to 7,000 people – could have easily driven these species to extinction in less than a millennia.

“Our results provide strong evidence that palaeolithic peoples in Cyprus were at least partially responsible for megafauna extinctions during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene,” says lead author, Professor Corey Bradshaw of Flinders University in South Australia.

“The main determinant of extinction risk for both species was the proportion of edible meat they provided to the first people on the island.”

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/unknown-neolithic-site-morocco/



What else can I eat?????