Tuesday, May 31, 2005

quote of the day



the BBC today has an article showing that many scientists are debunking the idea that the mass extinction of megafauna in the pleistocene - like mammoths and sabretooths and cave hyaenas and giant sloths and the like - was not the work of meat-happy hominids, but rather of climactic change.

speaking of the practicalities of the matter, dr stephen wroe of the university of sydney observes,

There is not a single stone-spearpoint in Australia until, at the very earliest, about 15,000 years ago - long after anyone thinks the megafauna went extinct.

You try taking out a two-to-three-tonne wombat with a pointy stick.

good point, steve.

the picture is of aforementioned wombat, namely diprotodon optatum.

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