Human ancestors not to blame for ancient mammal extinctions in Africa
Friday, November 23, 2018 - 20:10
in Paleontology & Archaeology
New research disputes a long-held view that our earliest tool-bearing ancestors contributed to the demise of large mammals in Africa over the last several million years. Instead, the researchers argue that long-term environmental change drove the extinctions, mainly in the form of grassland expansion likely caused by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.