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70,000 Years Ago to Today
Humans Change the World
In the late ice age, people migrated across the globe. They contributed directly and indirectly to the extinctions of other animals.
Many species have gone extinct in the last 40,000 years -- a geologically short time. Scientists see a clear pattern: many large land animals went extinct after modern humans arrived.
It's a complex story. Scientists study how hunting and ecosystem change caused by humans, along with the global climate fluctuations of the ice ages, pushed animals to extinction.
These late ice-age extinctions started a trend that continues today. All sizes and types of species are at risk, from the Panamanian golden frog (very small) to the northern white rhinoceros (very large). And the rate of extinction is accelerating. |