A Very Mammoth Task
When you glance at the landscape around you today it is most likely that you don’t picture
what it looked like thousands of years ago. Nor the animals that lived there.
In fact, you probably haven’t thought about it much, possibly ever. Perhaps
you have heard of these creatures? Can you tell me when they appeared? Can you
say why they aren’t there now? Maybe it was climate change, a hyperdisease,
environmental factors and lack of adaptability, or perhaps it was humans that
caused them to disappear...
This leads us to some very basic questions:
What was here?
How, and when...
& Why isn’t it here now...?
That is the purpose
of this blog. To identify, describe and discuss the animals that walked
through Europe in the hundreds and thousands of years before
we were born, in the context of where they came from and how they began to disappear.
A bit of context
During the most
recent geological period, the Quaternary (2.6 Million ago
until present) there were warm stages (interglacial phases) and cold
stages (glacial phases). When there is a switch between these two
states, there is a change in the fauna that live in that area.
Sometimes warming would permit the spread of species, but for more cold adapted animals, this
could cause a reduction in their species range. Yet, other
factors may also have contributed to their growth and decline. For example, Markova et al (2013) suggest that the expansion of the Woolly Rhinoceros in Europe was reduced during warm phases, but is this the case? Did Mesolithic
hunters also play a part? Quite possibly. The Woolly Rhinoceros
is part of a group known as megafauna, some of the largest animals that existed in this time frame (yes, this includes
the mammoths). Megafauna are often some of
the most well studied of the Quaternary animals, with complex histories and large geographical ranges. You will certainly get to know them in this blog.
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| Mammoth (top) and Cave Lion (bottom) Skeletons |
Why should we care about any of this?
Understanding how the
creatures that once lived in our home came to exist, and how they disappeared helps us to understand what will happen to the animals we now share the Earth with
in a warming world. What happened to Quaternary fauna under climate
change? Did they adapt? Was it the cause of their demise, and if not, what
was? Each species possesses its own story.
If that isn't enough they are also pretty cool.
These are a few of my favourites:
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| Woolly Rhinocerous: Coelodonta antiquitatis |
This blog will begin to explore the emergence, and disappearance, of interglacial fauna that walked through Europe during the Quaternary Ice Ages. Each week we will begin to unpick, critique, and discuss these animals, as well as the events that may have ultimately led to their disappearance.
See you soon!
Wow, love what I have read so far, fantastic, look forward to reading more as your blog progresses.
ReplyDeleteTell me, do you know if viruses could be responsible for evolving animal changes?
Thanks for the comment! The idea here is that hyperdisease could have wiped out species during an event during this time. Though this is very debated. I will be following up this initial post with a discussion on the evidence behind this theory later in the blog.
DeleteIf you are interested here are a few papers detailing some of the argument:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-006-0144-8?LI=true
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00643.x/abstract
If you don't have time to read these then here is a simple and brief summary:
http://vanishedgiants.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dissecting-hyperdisease-hypothesis.html
Thanks for the question! Keep following!!!
I found the papers very interesting thank you. With regard to your latest input to the blog, I wonder myself what it is about man's desire to hunt to extinction. When you look at the endangered species today, there may well be similarities that can be drawn with the practices of the past. I look forward to hearing more about smaller animals and how they faired, if there is any data available on them.
DeleteThank you, very interesting.
I will be taking a look at these in my next post so make sure you take a look!
DeleteA interesting first read and I do look forward to the coming posts, out of interest have you ever thought what our landscape and food chain would look like now if some of these creatures were still alive?
ReplyDeleteHi Reis, great question! Actually there has been some work done on what would happen under these circumstances. One idea to consider this is rewilding. This would mean placing creatures on landscapes today that no longer live there. For example, a large herbivore that has become extinct in one region on to an area it once lived. The idea in this case would be to restore areas which are now what we would call humanly-modified landscapes. Some of these restored areas would be very similar to past ecosystems. Here is a site which talks about an initiative in Siberia:
Deletehttp://www.pleistocenepark.ru/en/
Actually considering what the world would look like without the extinction of these animals is difficult, but a lot of it depends on how these animals disappeared. What would be here today without humans? Perhaps we did not play a huge role, undoubtedly in history we often have (e.g. the Dodo) but I will cover later in this blog the extent of factors influencing animal extinction. Thanks for the question, I hope that this helps and keep following this page for more insight!!!
Thankyou for the detailed reply I will take some time to look at the link you have given me and I look forward to future posts from you
DeleteI like your blog.. a lot.
ReplyDeleteSmall contibution if you are interested http://levenspiel.com/octave/dinosaurs.htm
Thanks Mario! I like dinosaurs too, great link! I like the discussion on the atmospheric pressure necessary for flying at the end! I will be talking more about some of the creatures around in the past glacial cycles during this blog- some of which rival dinosaurs in their coolness! Keep following, any questions are welcome!!
DeleteGreat topic, Emma! I've heard about the argument over whether climate or humans were more to blame for the extinction of megafauna, but not much in terms of hyperdisease... I look forward to finding out more!
ReplyDeleteHi Martha! Yes, hyperdisease is quite a debated one and i will definitely be following up on this first post with a discussion of it in the coming weeks!! Watch this space.
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