Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50,000-Year HistoryOf the forty mammal species known to have vanished in the world in the last 200 years, almost half have been Australian. Our continent has the worst record of mammal extinctions, with over 65 mammal species having vanished in the last 50 000 years. It began with the great wave of megafauna extinctions in the last ice-age, and continues today, with many mammal species vulnerable to extinction. The question of why mammals became extinct, and why so many became extinct in Australia has been debated by experts for over a century and a half and we are no closer to agreement on the causes. This book introduces readers to the great mammal extinction debate. Chris Johnson takes us on a detective-like tour of these extinctions, uncovering how, why and when they occurred. |
Contents
MAMMALS AND PEOPLE IN ICEAGE AUSTRALIA | 15 |
What caused the megafauna extinctions? | 36 |
The changing environment of the Pleistocene | 76 |
Testing hypotheses on megafauna extinction | 103 |
THE LATE PREHISTORIC PERIOD | 131 |
Dingoes people and other mammals | 148 |
EUROPEANS AND THEIR NEW MAMMALS | 167 |
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45 kyr ago Aboriginal abundance animals archaeological areas arid arrival artefacts Australian mammals bandicoot bettong bilby body mass bones Browse burrowing burrowing bettong carnivores cats and foxes caused Cave charcoal climate continent Cuddie Springs dates decline density desert bandicoot desert rat-kangaroo devil dingoes Diprotodon disappeared ecology effects environments European evidence extinct species extinction Figure fire Flannery forest fossil Genyornis giant grasses Guinea habitats hare-wallaby herbivores Holocene human hunters hunting impact increase Island kangaroos killed kilograms Lake large mammals last glacial cycle late Pleistocene living mainland Australia mammal extinctions mammal species marsupials megafauna extinctions monotremes native mammals northern Australia numbers plants Plate Pleistocene megafauna pollen population possums predators prey probably Quaternary Queensland rabbits rainforest range rat-kangaroos recent record region rodents sediments sheep shrublands shrubs Simosthenurus South Australia South Wales southeastern southern specialised suggests survived Tasmania temperature thylacine tion trees vertebrates wallaby Western Australia widespread wombats woodlands woylies Wroe