Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals

2009/11/23 by J. Tyler Faith, Todd A. Surovell · 6 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0908153106

openalex publication_date 2009/11/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

The late Pleistocene witnessed the extinction of 35 genera of North American mammals. The last appearance dates of 16 of these genera securely fall between 12,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years ago (approximately 13,800-11,400 calendar years B.P.), although whether the absence of fossil occurrences for the remaining 19 genera from this time interval is the result of sampling error or temporally staggered extinctions is unclear. Analysis of the chronology of extinctions suggests that sampling error can explain the absence of terminal Pleistocene last appearance dates for the remaining 19 genera. The extinction chronology of North American Pleistocene mammals therefore can be characterized as a synchronous event that took place 12,000-10,000 radiocarbon years B.P. Results favor an extinction mechanism that is capable of wiping out up to 35 genera across a continent in a geologic instant.

Citations

• A requiem for North American overkill
• Late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America: Taxonomy, chronology, and explanations
• A Multispecies Overkill Simulation of the End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Mass Extinction
• Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands
• The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland
• Assessing the Causes of Late Pleistocene Extinctions on the Continents
• Clovis Hunting and Large Mammal Extinction: A Critical Review of the Evidence
• Sampling bias, gradual extinction patterns and catastrophes in the fossil record

Cited by

• The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: a cosmic catastrophe
• Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions on the continents: a short review
• On the association of giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) in late Pleistocene North America
• Unraveling the consequences of the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction on mammal community assembly
• Pre-Clovis occupation 14,550 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, and the peopling of the Americas
• Arctodus [wikipedia]