Seen here is a glimpse at the kind of world and wildlife that the first emigres from Northern Asia to the Americas faced. Including an illustration of a giant sloth. That would be something to see, yes. I think once you went from one hemisphere to another, the kind of animals you saw would be vastly different. It makes me wonder what they thought about it.
There's been some controveyersy over whether the proto-Americans caused the extinction of the continent's megafauna. They were proficient hunters, yes. Probably not enough to cause mass extinctions, though. Not without the geological and climactic changes that were also going on.
2 comments:
I love the giant sloth. Most of the studies I've read about the extinction of megafaunal species agree that it was a combination of climate change and human hunting patterns both. It even seems likely that tribes of hunters followed large animals across that land bridge.. or maybe they were collecting daisies.
ps: I found a very funny article in the Observer about how some people in England are having a good time foxing the Amazon algorithms.
Beringia was what they called the land bridge running between Eurasia and North America, through the Bering Sea. I've been fascinated with it since I heard about it.
That picture of the cat with the tinfoil helmet is terrific.
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