Megafauna

In zoology, megafauna (from Greek μέγας megas "large" and Neo-Latin fauna "animal life") are large animals. The most common thresholds to be a megafauna are weighing over 46 kilograms (100 lb)[1][2][3] (i.e., having a mass comparable to or larger than a human) or weighing over a tonne, 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb)[1][4][5] (i.e., having a mass comparable to or larger than an ox). The first of these include many species not popularly thought of as overly large, and being the only few large animals left in a given range/area, such as white-tailed deer, Thomson's gazelle, and red kangaroo.

This article is about living or extinct large animals. For other uses, see Megafauna (disambiguation).
The African bush elephant (foreground), Earth's largest extant land mammal, and the Masai ostrich (background), one of Earth's largest extant birds

In practice, the most common usage encountered in academic and popular writing describes land mammals roughly larger than a human that are not (solely) domesticated. The term is especially associated with the Pleistocene megafauna – the land animals often larger than their extant counterparts that are considered archetypical of the last ice age, such as mammoths, the majority of which in northern Eurasia and the Americas became extinct within the last forty thousand years.[6]

Among living animals, the term megafauna is most commonly used for the largest extant terrestrial mammals, which includes (but is not limited to) elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and large bovines. Of these five categories of large herbivores, only bovines are presently found outside of Africa and southern Asia, but all the others were formerly more wide-ranging, with their ranges and populations continually shrinking and decreasing over time. Wild equines are another example of megafauna, but their current ranges are largely restricted to the Old World, specifically Africa and Asia. Megafaunal species may be categorized according to their dietary type: megaherbivores (e.g., elephants), megacarnivores (e.g., lions), and, more rarely, megaomnivores (e.g., bears). The megafauna is also categorized by the class of animals that it belongs to, which are mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates.

Other common uses are for giant aquatic species, especially whales, as well as any of the larger wild or domesticated land animals such as larger antelope, deer, horse and cattle, as well as dinosaurs and other extinct giant reptiles.

The term megafauna is very rarely used to describe invertebrates, though it has occasionally been used for some species of invertebrates (which are on average much smaller than vertebrates) such as coconut crabs and Japanese spider crabs, as well as extinct invertebrates that were much larger than all similar invertebrate species alive today. One example are the meganisopterans, dragonfly-like insects from the Carboniferous period with wingspans reaching 1 m (3 ft).

Ecological strategy

Megafauna animals – in the sense of the largest mammals and birds – are generally K-strategists, with high longevity, slow population growth rates, low mortality rates, and (at least for the largest) few or no natural predators capable of killing adults.[7] These characteristics, although not exclusive to such megafauna, make them vulnerable to human overexploitation, in part because of their slow population recovery rates.[8][9]

Evolution of large body size

One observation that has been made about the evolution of larger body size is that rapid rates of increase that are often seen over relatively short time intervals are not sustainable over much longer time periods. In an examination of mammal body mass changes over time, the maximum increase possible in a given time interval was found to scale with the interval length raised to the 0.25 power.[10] This is thought to reflect the emergence, during a trend of increasing maximum body size, of a series of anatomical, physiological, environmental, genetic and other constraints that must be overcome by evolutionary innovations before further size increases are possible. A strikingly faster rate of change was found for large decreases in body mass, such as may be associated with the phenomenon of insular dwarfism. When normalized to generation length, the maximum rate of body mass decrease was found to be over 30 times greater than the maximum rate of body mass increase for a ten-fold change.[10]

In terrestrial mammals
Large terrestrial mammals compared in size to one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs, Patagotitan

Subsequent to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that eliminated the non-avian dinosaurs about 66 Ma (million years) ago, terrestrial mammals underwent a nearly exponential increase in body size as they diversified to occupy the ecological niches left vacant.[11] Starting from just a few kg before the event, maximum size had reached ~50 kg a few million years later, and ~750 kg by the end of the Paleocene. This trend of increasing body mass appears to level off about 40 Ma ago (in the late Eocene), suggesting that physiological or ecological constraints had been reached, after an increase in body mass of over three orders of magnitude.[11] However, when considered from the standpoint of rate of size increase per generation, the exponential increase is found to have continued until the appearance of Indricotherium 30 Ma ago. (Since generation time scales with body mass0.259, increasing generation times with increasing size cause the log mass vs. time plot to curve downward from a linear fit.)[10]

Megaherbivores eventually attained a body mass of over 10,000 kg. The largest of these, indricotheres and proboscids, have been hindgut fermenters, which are believed to have an advantage over foregut fermenters in terms of being able to accelerate gastrointestinal transit in order to accommodate very large food intakes.[12] A similar trend emerges when rates of increase of maximum body mass per generation for different mammalian clades are compared (using rates averaged over macroevolutionary time scales). Among terrestrial mammals, the fastest rates of increase of body mass0.259 vs. time (in Ma) occurred in perissodactyls (a slope of 2.1), followed by rodents (1.2) and proboscids (1.1),[10] all of which are hindgut fermenters. The rate of increase for artiodactyls (0.74) was about a third that of perissodactyls. The rate for carnivorans (0.65) was slightly lower yet, while primates, perhaps constrained by their arboreal habits, had the lowest rate (0.39) among the mammalian groups studied.[10]

Terrestrial mammalian carnivores from several eutherian groups (the artiodactyl Andrewsarchus – formerly considered a mesonychid, the oxyaenid Sarkastodon, and the carnivorans Amphicyon and Arctodus) all reached a maximum size of about 1000 kg[11] (the carnivoran Arctotherium and the hyaenodontid Simbakubwa may have been somewhat larger). The largest known metatherian carnivore, Proborhyaena gigantea, apparently reached 600 kg, also close to this limit.[13] A similar theoretical maximum size for mammalian carnivores has been predicted based on the metabolic rate of mammals, the energetic cost of obtaining prey, and the maximum estimated rate coefficient of prey intake.[14] It has also been suggested that maximum size for mammalian carnivores is constrained by the stress the humerus can withstand at top running speed.[13]

Analysis of the variation of maximum body size over the last 40 Ma suggests that decreasing temperature and increasing continental land area are associated with increasing maximum body size. The former correlation would be consistent with Bergmann's rule,[15] and might be related to the thermoregulatory advantage of large body mass in cool climates,[11] better ability of larger organisms to cope with seasonality in food supply,[15] or other factors;[15] the latter correlation could be explained in terms of range and resource limitations.[11] However, the two parameters are interrelated (due to sea level drops accompanying increased glaciation), making the driver of the trends in maximum size more difficult to identify.[11]

In marine mammals
Baleen whale comparative sizes

Since tetrapods (first reptiles, later mammals) returned to the sea in the Late Permian, they have dominated the top end of the marine body size range, due to the more efficient intake of oxygen possible using lungs.[16][17] The ancestors of cetaceans are believed to have been the semiaquatic pakicetids, no larger than dogs, of about 53 million years (Ma) ago.[18] By 40 Ma ago, cetaceans had attained a length of 20 m or more in Basilosaurus, an elongated, serpentine whale that differed from modern whales in many respects and was not ancestral to them. Following this, the evolution of large body size in cetaceans appears to have come to a temporary halt, and then to have backtracked, although the available fossil records are limited. However, in the period from 31 Ma ago (in the Oligocene) to the present, cetaceans underwent a significantly more rapid sustained increase in body mass (a rate of increase in body mass0.259 of a factor of 3.2 per million years) than achieved by any group of terrestrial mammals.[10] This trend led to the largest animal of all time, the modern blue whale. Several reasons for the more rapid evolution of large body size in cetaceans are possible. Fewer biomechanical constraints on increases in body size may be associated with suspension in water as opposed to standing against the force of gravity, and with swimming movements as opposed to terrestrial locomotion. Also, the greater heat capacity and thermal conductivity of water compared to air may increase the thermoregulatory advantage of large body size in marine endotherms, although diminishing returns apply.[10]

Among toothed whales, maximum body size appears to be limited by food availability. Larger size, as in sperm and beaked whales, facilitates deeper diving to access relatively easily-caught, large cephalopod prey in a less competitive environment. Compared to odontocetes, the efficiency of baleen whales' filter feeding scales more favorably with increasing size when planktonic food is dense, making larger size more advantageous. The lunge feeding technique of rorquals appears to be more energy efficient than the ram feeding of balaenid whales; the latter technique is used with less dense and patchy plankton.[19] The cooling trend in Earth's recent history may have generated more localities of high plankton abundance via wind-driven upwellings, facilitating the evolution of gigantic whales.[19]

Cetaceans are not the only marine mammals to reach tremendous sizes. The largest carnivorans of all time are marine pinnipeds, the largest of which is the southern elephant seal, which can reach more than 6 meters in length and weigh up to 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb). Other large pinnipeds include the northern elephant seal at 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb), walrus at 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb), and Steller sea lion at 1,135 kilograms (2,502 lb). The sirenians are another group of marine mammals which adapted to fully aquatic life around the same time as the cetaceans did. Sirenians are closely related to elephants. The largest sirenian was the Steller's sea cow, which reached up to 10 meters in length and weighed 8,000 to 10,000 kilograms (18,000 to 22,000 lb), and was hunted to extinction in the 18th century. The semi-aquatic hippopotamus, which is the terrestrial mammal most closely related to cetaceans, can reach 3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb).

In flightless birds
A size comparison between a human and 4 moa species:
1. Dinornis novaezealandiae
2. Emeus crassus
3. Anomalopteryx didiformis
4. Dinornis robustus

Because of the small initial size of all mammals following the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, nonmammalian vertebrates had a roughly ten-million-year-long window of opportunity (during the Paleocene) for evolution of gigantism without much competition.[20] During this interval, apex predator niches were often occupied by reptiles, such as terrestrial crocodilians (e.g. Pristichampsus), large snakes (e.g. Titanoboa) or varanid lizards, or by flightless birds[11] (e.g. Paleopsilopterus in South America). This is also the period when megafaunal flightless herbivorous gastornithid birds evolved in the Northern Hemisphere, while flightless paleognaths evolved to large size on Gondwanan land masses and Europe. Gastornithids and at least one lineage of flightless paleognath birds originated in Europe, both lineages dominating niches for large herbivores while mammals remained below 45 kg (in contrast with other landmasses like North America and Asia, which saw the earlier evolution of larger mammals) and were the largest European tetrapods in the Paleocene.[21]

Flightless paleognaths, termed ratites, have traditionally been viewed as representing a lineage separate from that of their small flighted relatives, the Neotropic tinamous. However, recent genetic studies have found that tinamous nest well within the ratite tree, and are the sister group of the extinct moa of New Zealand.[20][22][23] Similarly, the small kiwi of New Zealand have been found to be the sister group of the extinct elephant birds of Madagascar.[20] These findings indicate that flightlessness and gigantism arose independently multiple times among ratites via parallel evolution.

Predatory megafaunal flightless birds were often able to compete with mammals in the early Cenozoic. Later in the Cenozoic, however, they were displaced by advanced carnivorans and died out. In North America, the bathornithids Paracrax and Bathornis were apex predators but became extinct by the Early Miocene. In South America, the related phorusrhacids shared the dominant predatory niches with metatherian sparassodonts during most of the Cenozoic but declined and ultimately went extinct after eutherian predators arrived from North America (as part of the Great American Interchange) during the Pliocene. In contrast, large herbivorous flightless ratites have survived to the present.

However, none of the flightless birds of the Cenozoic, including the predatory Brontornis, possibly omnivorous Dromornis stirtoni[24] or herbivorous Vorombe, ever grew to masses much above 500 kg, and thus never attained the size of the largest mammalian carnivores, let alone that of the largest mammalian herbivores. It has been suggested that the increasing thickness of avian eggshells in proportion to egg mass with increasing egg size places an upper limit on the size of birds.[25][note 1] The largest species of Dromornis, D. stirtoni, may have gone extinct after it attained the maximum avian body mass and was then outcompeted by marsupial diprotodonts that evolved to sizes several times larger.[28]

In giant turtles

Giant tortoises were important components of late Cenozoic megafaunas, being present in every nonpolar continent until the arrival of homininans.[29][30] The largest known terrestrial tortoise was Megalochelys atlas, an animal that probably weighed about 1,000 kg.

Some earlier aquatic Testudines, e.g. the marine Archelon of the Cretaceous and freshwater Stupendemys of the Miocene, were considerably larger, weighing more than 2,000  kg.

Megafaunal mass extinctions

Timing and possible causes
Correlations between times of first appearance of humans and unique megafaunal extinction pulses on different land masses
Cyclical pattern of global climate change over the last 450,000 years (based on Antarctic temperatures and global ice volume), showing that there were no unique climatic events that would account for any of the megafaunal extinction pulses

The Quaternary extinction event occurred during the latter half of the last ice age glacial period when many giant ice age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, went extinct in the Americas, Australia-New Guinea, and northern Eurasia. An analysis of the extinction event in North America found it to be unique among Cenozoic extinction pulses in its selectivity for large animals.[31]: Fig. 10  Various theories have attributed the wave of extinctions to human hunting, climate change, disease, extraterrestrial impact, or other causes. However, this extinction near the end of the Pleistocene was just one of a series of megafaunal extinction pulses that have occurred during the last 50,000 years over much of the Earth's surface, with Africa and southern Asia (where the local megafauna had a chance to evolve alongside modern humans) being comparatively less affected. The latter areas did suffer a gradual attrition of megafauna, particularly of the slower-moving species (a class of vulnerable megafauna epitomized by giant tortoises), over the last several million years.[32][33]

Outside the mainland of Afro-Eurasia, these megafaunal extinctions followed a highly distinctive landmass-by-landmass pattern that closely parallels the spread of humans into previously uninhabited regions of the world, and which shows no overall correlation with climatic history (which can be visualized with plots over recent geological time periods of climate markers such as marine oxygen isotopes or atmospheric carbon dioxide levels).[34][35] Australia[36] and nearby islands (e.g., Flores[37]) were struck first around 46,000 years ago, followed by Tasmania about 41,000 years ago (after formation of a land bridge to Australia about 43,000 years ago).[38][39][40] The role of humans in the extinction of Australia and New Guinea's megafauna has been disputed, with multiple studies showing a decline in the number of species prior to the arrival of humans on the continent and the absence of any evidence of human predation;[41][42][43][44] the impact of climate change has instead been cited for their decline.[45][41] Similarly, Japan lost most of its megafauna apparently about 30,000 years ago,[46] North America 13,000 years ago[note 2] and South America about 500 years later,[48][49] Cyprus 10,000 years ago,[50][51] the Antilles 6,000 years ago,[52][53] New Caledonia[54] and nearby islands[55] 3,000 years ago, Madagascar 2,000 years ago,[56] New Zealand 700 years ago,[57] the Mascarenes 400 years ago,[58] and the Commander Islands 250 years ago.[59] Nearly all of the world's isolated islands could furnish similar examples of extinctions occurring shortly after the arrival of humans, though most of these islands, such as the Hawaiian Islands, never had terrestrial megafauna, so their extinct fauna were smaller, but still displayed island gigantism.[34][35]

An analysis of the timing of Holarctic megafaunal extinctions and extirpations over the last 56,000 years has revealed a tendency for such events to cluster within interstadials, periods of abrupt warming, but only when humans were also present. Humans may have impeded processes of migration and recolonization that would otherwise have allowed the megafaunal species to adapt to the climate shift.[60] In at least some areas, interstadials were periods of expanding human populations.[61]

An analysis of Sporormiella fungal spores (which derive mainly from the dung of megaherbivores) in swamp sediment cores spanning the last 130,000 years from Lynch's Crater in Queensland, Australia, showed that the megafauna of that region virtually disappeared about 41,000 years ago, at a time when climate changes were minimal; the change was accompanied by an increase in charcoal, and was followed by a transition from rainforest to fire-tolerant sclerophyll vegetation. The high-resolution chronology of the changes supports the hypothesis that human hunting alone eliminated the megafauna, and that the subsequent change in flora was most likely a consequence of the elimination of browsers and an increase in fire.[62][63][64][65] The increase in fire lagged the disappearance of megafauna by about a century, and most likely resulted from accumulation of fuel once browsing stopped. Over the next several centuries grass increased; sclerophyll vegetation increased with a lag of another century, and a sclerophyll forest developed after about another thousand years.[64] During two periods of climate change about 120,000 and 75,000 years ago, sclerophyll vegetation had also increased at the site in response to a shift to cooler, drier conditions; neither of these episodes had a significant impact on megafaunal abundance.[64] Similar conclusions regarding the culpability of human hunters in the disappearance of Pleistocene megafauna were derived from high-resolution chronologies obtained via an analysis of a large collection of eggshell fragments of the flightless Australian bird Genyornis newtoni,[66][67][65] from analysis of Sporormiella fungal spores from a lake in eastern North America[68][69] and from study of deposits of Shasta ground sloth dung left in over half a dozen caves in the American Southwest.[70][71]

Continuing human hunting and environmental disturbance has led to additional megafaunal extinctions in the recent past, and has created a serious danger of further extinctions in the near future (see examples below). Direct killing by humans, primarily for meat or other body parts, is the most significant factor in contemporary megafaunal decline.[72][73]

A number of other mass extinctions occurred earlier in Earth's geologic history, in which some or all of the megafauna of the time also died out. Famously, in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event the non-avian dinosaurs and most other giant reptiles were eliminated. However, the earlier mass extinctions were more global and not so selective for megafauna; i.e., many species of other types, including plants, marine invertebrates[74] and plankton, went extinct as well. Thus, the earlier events must have been caused by more generalized types of disturbances to the biosphere.

Effect on nutrient transport

Megafauna play a significant role in the lateral transport of mineral nutrients in an ecosystem, tending to translocate them from areas of high to those of lower abundance. They do so by their movement between the time they consume the nutrient and the time they release it through elimination (or, to a much lesser extent, through decomposition after death).[75] In South America's Amazon Basin, it is estimated that such lateral diffusion was reduced over 98% following the megafaunal extinctions that occurred roughly 12,500 years ago.[76][77] Given that phosphorus availability is thought to limit productivity in much of the region, the decrease in its transport from the western part of the basin and from floodplains (both of which derive their supply from the uplift of the Andes) to other areas is thought to have significantly impacted the region's ecology, and the effects may not yet have reached their limits.[77] In the sea, cetaceans and pinnipeds that feed at depth are thought to translocate nitrogen from deep to shallow water, enhancing ocean productivity, and counteracting the activity of zooplankton, which tend to do the opposite.[78]

Effect on methane emissions

Large populations of megaherbivores have the potential to contribute greatly to the atmospheric concentration of methane, which is an important greenhouse gas. Modern ruminant herbivores produce methane as a byproduct of foregut fermentation in digestion, and release it through belching or flatulence. Today, around 20% of annual methane emissions come from livestock methane release. In the Mesozoic, it has been estimated that sauropods could have emitted 520 million tons of methane to the atmosphere annually,[79] contributing to the warmer climate of the time (up to 10 °C warmer than at present).[79][80] This large emission follows from the enormous estimated biomass of sauropods, and because methane production of individual herbivores is believed to be almost proportional to their mass.[79]

Recent studies have indicated that the extinction of megafaunal herbivores may have caused a reduction in atmospheric methane. This hypothesis is relatively new.[81] One study examined the methane emissions from the bison that occupied the Great Plains of North America before contact with European settlers. The study estimated that the removal of the bison caused a decrease of as much as 2.2 million tons per year.[82] Another study examined the change in the methane concentration in the atmosphere at the end of the Pleistocene epoch after the extinction of megafauna in the Americas. After early humans migrated to the Americas about 13,000 BP, their hunting and other associated ecological impacts led to the extinction of many megafaunal species there. Calculations suggest that this extinction decreased methane production by about 9.6 million tons per year. This suggests that the absence of megafaunal methane emissions may have contributed to the abrupt climatic cooling at the onset of the Younger Dryas.[81] The decrease in atmospheric methane that occurred at that time, as recorded in ice cores, was 2–4 times more rapid than any other decrease in the last half million years, suggesting that an unusual mechanism was at work.[81]

Examples

The following are some notable examples of animals often considered as megafauna (in the sense of the "large animal" definition). This list is not intended to be exhaustive:

Pleistocene extinct megafauna

Other extinct Cenozoic megafauna
  • Dromornis stirtoni was the largest fowl, weighing up to 650 kg (1,430 lb).
    Dromornis stirtoni was the largest fowl, weighing up to 650 kg (1,430 lb).
  • Asian indricothere rhino Paraceratherium was among the largest land mammals, about twice a bush elephant's mass.
    Asian indricothere and rhino relative Paraceratherium was among the largest land mammals,[107] about twice a bush elephant's mass.
  • Reconstructed jaws of megalodon (Otodus megalodon, the largest known shark and likely the largest known fish.
    Reconstructed jaws of megalodon (Otodus megalodon, the largest known shark and likely the largest known fish.
  • Deinotherium was a widespread Afro-Eurasian relative of elephants, with downward-curving tusks.
    Deinotherium was a widespread Afro-Eurasian relative of elephants, with downward-curving tusks.
  • Kelenken guillermoi was a terror bird and the tallest carnivorous bird ever, averaging a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) and exceeding 100 kg (220 lb) in mass.
    Kelenken guillermoi was a terror bird and the tallest carnivorous bird ever, averaging a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) and exceeding 100 kg (220 lb) in mass.
  • Gastornis gigantea (previously known as "Diatryma") was the largest bird to ever inhabit North America, weighing up to 225 kg (496 lb).
    Gastornis gigantea (previously known as "Diatryma") was the largest bird to ever inhabit North America, weighing up to 225 kg (496 lb).

Extant

See also

Notes
  1. Nonavian dinosaur size was not similarly constrained because they had a different relationship between body mass and egg size than birds. The 400 kg Aepyornis had larger eggs than nearly all dinosaurs.[26][27]
  2. Analysis indicates that 35 genera of North American mammals went extinct more or less simultaneously in this event.[47]
  3. Perspective makes the fish appear larger relative to the man standing behind it (another example of a megafaunal species) than it actually is.

References
  1. Stuart, A. J. (November 1991). "Mammalian extinctions in the Late Pleistocene of northern Eurasia and North America". Biological Reviews. 66 (4): 453–562. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1991.tb01149.x. PMID 1801948. S2CID 41295526.
  2. Martin, P. S. (1984). "Prehistoric overkill: The global model". In Martin, P. S.; Klein, R. G. (eds.). Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution. University of Arizona Press. pp. 354–403. ISBN 978-0-8165-1100-6. OCLC 258362030.
  3. Martin, P. S.; Steadman, D. W. (1999-06-30). "Prehistoric extinctions on islands and continents". In MacPhee, R. D. E (ed.). Extinctions in near time: causes, contexts and consequences. Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology. Vol. 2. New York: Kluwer/Plenum. pp. 17–56. ISBN 978-0-306-46092-0. OCLC 41368299. Retrieved 2011-08-23. see page 17
  4. Richard A. Farina; Sergio F. Vizcaino; Gerry De Iuliis (2013). "The Great American Biotic Interchange". Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-253-00230-3.
  5. Bernhard A. Huber; Bradley J. Sinclair; Karl-Heinz Lampe (2005). "Historical Determinants of Mammal Species in Africa". African Biodiversity: Molecules, Organisms, Ecosystems. Springer. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-387-24315-3.
  6. "Ice Age Animals". llinois State Museum. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  7. https://www.britannica.com/science/K-selected-species. Britannica. Retrieved 2017-4-2.
  8. Barnosky, A. D. (2004-10-01). "Assessing the Causes of Late Pleistocene Extinctions on the Continents". Science. 306 (5693): 70–75. Bibcode:2004Sci...306...70B. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.574.332. doi:10.1126/science.1101476. PMID 15459379. S2CID 36156087.
  9. Brook, B. W.; Johnson, C. N. (2006). "Selective hunting of juveniles as a cause of the imperceptible overkill of the Australian Pleistocene megafauna". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 30 (sup1): 39–48. Bibcode:2006Alch...30S..39B. doi:10.1080/03115510609506854. S2CID 84205755.
  10. Evans, A. R.; Jones, D.; Boyer, A. G.; Brown, J. H.; Costa, D. P.; Ernest, S. K. M.; Fitzgerald, E. M. G.; Fortelius, M.; Gittleman, J. L.; Hamilton, M. J.; Harding, L. E.; Lintulaakso, K.; Lyons, S. K.; Okie, J. G.; Saarinen, J. J.; Sibly, R. M.; Smith, F. A.; Stephens, P. R.; Theodor, J. M.; Uhen, M. D. (2012-01-30). "The maximum rate of mammal evolution". PNAS. 109 (11): 4187–4190. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.4187E. doi:10.1073/pnas.1120774109. PMC 3306709. PMID 22308461.
  11. Smith, F. A.; Boyer, A. G.; Brown, J. H.; Costa, D. P.; Dayan, T.; Ernest, S. K. M.; Evans, A. R.; Fortelius, M.; Gittleman, J. L.; Hamilton, M. J.; Harding, L. E.; Lintulaakso, K.; Lyons, S. K.; McCain, C.; Okie, J. G.; Saarinen, J. J.; Sibly, R. M.; Stephens, P. R.; Theodor, J.; Uhen, M. D. (2010-11-26). "The Evolution of Maximum Body Size of Terrestrial Mammals". Science. 330 (6008): 1216–1219. Bibcode:2010Sci...330.1216S. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.383.8581. doi:10.1126/science.1194830. PMID 21109666. S2CID 17272200.
  12. Clauss, M.; Frey, R.; Kiefer, B.; Lechner-Doll, M.; Loehlein, W.; Polster, C.; Roessner, G. E.; Streich, W. J. (2003-04-24). "The maximum attainable body size of herbivorous mammals: morphophysiological constraints on foregut, and adaptations of hindgut fermenters" (PDF). Oecologia. 136 (1): 14–27. Bibcode:2003Oecol.136...14C. doi:10.1007/s00442-003-1254-z. PMID 12712314. S2CID 206989975. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2019-07-13.
  13. Sorkin, B. (2008-04-10). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
  14. Carbone, C.; Teacher, A; Rowcliffe, J. M. (2007-01-16). "The Costs of Carnivory". PLOS Biology. 5 (2, e22): 363–368. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050022. PMC 1769424. PMID 17227145.
  15. Ashton, K. G.; Tracy, M. C.; de Queiroz, A. (October 2000). "Is Bergmann's Rule Valid for Mammals?". The American Naturalist. 156 (4): 390–415. doi:10.1086/303400. JSTOR 10.1086/303400. PMID 29592141. S2CID 205983729.
  16. Webb, J. (2015-02-19). "Evolution 'favours bigger sea creatures'". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
  17. Heim, N. A.; Knope, M. L.; Schaal, E. K.; Wang, S. C.; Payne, J. L. (2015-02-20). "Cope's rule in the evolution of marine animals". Science. 347 (6224): 867–870. Bibcode:2015Sci...347..867H. doi:10.1126/science.1260065. PMID 25700517.
  18. Thewissen, J. G. M.; Bajpai, S. (1 January 2001). "Whale Origins as a Poster Child for Macroevolution". BioScience. 51 (12): 1037–1049. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[1037:WOAAPC]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0006-3568.
  19. Goldbogen, J. A.; Cade, D. E.; Wisniewska, D. M.; Potvin, J.; Segre, P. S.; Savoca, M. S.; Hazen, E. L.; Czapanskiy, M. F.; Kahane-Rapport, S. R.; DeRuiter, S. L.; Gero, S.; Tønnesen, P.; Gough, W. T.; Hanson, M. B.; Holt, M. M.; Jensen, F. H.; Simon, M.; Stimpert, A. K.; Arranz, P.; Johnston, D. W.; Nowacek, D. P.; Parks, S. E.; Visser, F.; Friedlaender, A. S.; Tyack, P. L.; Madsen, P. T.; Pyenson, N. D. (2019). "Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants". Science. 366 (6471): 1367–1372. Bibcode:2019Sci...366.1367G. doi:10.1126/science.aax9044. hdl:10023/19285. PMID 31831666. S2CID 209339266.
  20. Mitchell, K. J.; Llamas, B.; Soubrier, J.; Rawlence, N. J.; Worthy, T. H.; Wood, J.; Lee, M. S. Y.; Cooper, A. (2014-05-23). "Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution" (PDF). Science. 344 (6186): 898–900. Bibcode:2014Sci...344..898M. doi:10.1126/science.1251981. hdl:2328/35953. PMID 24855267. S2CID 206555952.
  21. Buffetaut, E.; Angst, D. (November 2014). "Stratigraphic distribution of large flightless birds in the Palaeogene of Europe and its palaeobiological and palaeogeographical implications". Earth-Science Reviews. 138: 394–408. Bibcode:2014ESRv..138..394B. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.07.001.
  22. Phillips MJ, Gibb GC, Crimp EA, Penny D (January 2010). "Tinamous and moa flock together: mitochondrial genome sequence analysis reveals independent losses of flight among ratites". Systematic Biology. 59 (1): 90–107. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp079. PMID 20525622.
  23. Baker, A. J.; Haddrath, O.; McPherson, J. D.; Cloutier, A. (2014). "Genomic Support for a Moa-Tinamou Clade and Adaptive Morphological Convergence in Flightless Ratites". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 31 (7): 1686–1696. doi:10.1093/molbev/msu153. PMID 24825849.
  24. Murray, Peter F.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (2004). Magnificent Mihirungs: The Colossal Flightless Birds of the Australian Dreamtime. Indiana University Press. pp. 51, 314. ISBN 978-0-253-34282-9. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  25. Ibid (2004). p. 212. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34282-9.
  26. Kenneth Carpenter (1999). Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction. Indiana University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-253-33497-8. OCLC 42009424. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  27. Jackson, F. D.; Varricchio, D. J.; Jackson, R. A.; Vila, B.; Chiappe, L. M. (2008). "Comparison of water vapor conductance in a titanosaur egg from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina and a Megaloolithus siruguei egg from Spain". Paleobiology. 34 (2): 229–246. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2008)034[0229:COWVCI]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0094-8373. S2CID 85880201.
  28. Ibid (2004). p. 277. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34282-9.
  29. Hansen, D. M.; Donlan, C. J.; Griffiths, C. J.; Campbell, K. J. (April 2010). "Ecological history and latent conservation potential: large and giant tortoises as a model for taxon substitutions" (PDF). Ecography. 33 (2): 272–284. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06305.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  30. Cione, A. L.; Tonni, E. P.; Soibelzon, L. (2003). "The Broken Zig-Zag: Late Cenozoic large mammal and tortoise extinction in South America". Rev. Mus. Argentino Cienc. Nat. Nueva Serie. 5 (1): 1–19. doi:10.22179/REVMACN.5.26. ISSN 1514-5158.
  31. Alroy, J. (1999), "Putting North America's End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction in Context: Large-Scale Analyses of Spatial Patterns, Extinction Rates, and Size Distributions", in MacPhee, R. D. E. (ed.), Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences, Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology, vol. 2, New York: Plenum, pp. 105–143, doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-5202-1_6, ISBN 978-1-4757-5202-1, OCLC 41368299
  32. Corlett, R. T. (2006). "Megafaunal extinctions in tropical Asia" (PDF). Tropinet. 17 (3): 1–3. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  33. Edmeades, Baz. "Megafauna — First Victims of the Human-Caused Extinction". megafauna.com. (internet-published book with Foreword by Paul S. Martin). Archived from the original on 2014-12-25. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  34. Martin, P. S. (2005). "Chapter 6. Deadly Syncopation". Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America. University of California Press. pp. 118–128. ISBN 978-0-520-23141-2. OCLC 58055404. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  35. Burney, D. A.; Flannery, T. F. (July 2005). "Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact" (PDF). Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 20 (7): 395–401. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.04.022. PMID 16701402. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  36. Roberts, R. G.; Flannery, T. F.; Ayliffe, L. K.; Yoshida, H.; Olley, J. M.; Prideaux, G. J.; Laslett, G. M.; Baynes, A.; Smith, M. A.; Jones, R.; Smith, B. L. (2001-06-08). "New Ages for the Last Australian Megafauna: Continent-Wide Extinction About 46,000 Years Ago" (PDF). Science. 292 (5523): 1888–1892. Bibcode:2001Sci...292.1888R. doi:10.1126/science.1060264. PMID 11397939. S2CID 45643228. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
  37. Callaway, E. (2016-09-21). "Human remains found in hobbit cave". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.20656. S2CID 89272546.
  38. Diamond, Jared (2008-08-13). "Palaeontology: The last giant kangaroo". Nature. 454 (7206): 835–836. Bibcode:2008Natur.454..835D. doi:10.1038/454835a. PMID 18704074. S2CID 36583693.
  39. Turney, C. S. M.; Flannery, T. F.; Roberts, R. G.; Reid, C.; Fifield, L. K.; Higham, T. F. G.; Jacobs, Z.; Kemp, N.; Colhoun, E. A.; Kalin, R. M.; Ogle, N. (2008-08-21). "Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction". PNAS. 105 (34): 12150–12153. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10512150T. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801360105. PMC 2527880. PMID 18719103.
  40. Roberts, R.; Jacobs, Z. (October 2008). "The Lost Giants of Tasmania" (PDF). Australasian Science. 29 (9): 14–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
  41. Field, Judith; Wroe, Stephen; Trueman, Clive N.; Garvey, Jillian; Wyatt-Spratt, Simon (2013-02-08). "Looking for the archaeological signature in Australian Megafaunal extinctions". Quaternary International. Peopling the last new worlds: the first colonisation of Sahul and the Americas. 285: 76–88. Bibcode:2013QuInt.285...76F. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.013. ISSN 1040-6182.
  42. Dodson, John; Field, Judith H. (2018). "What does the occurrence of Sporormiella (Preussia) spores mean in Australian fossil sequences?". Journal of Quaternary Science. 33 (4): 380–392. Bibcode:2018JQS....33..380D. doi:10.1002/jqs.3020. ISSN 1099-1417. S2CID 133737405.
  43. Wroe, Stephen; Field, Judith H.; Archer, Michael; Grayson, Donald K.; Price, Gilbert J.; Louys, Julien; Faith, J. Tyler; Webb, Gregory E.; Davidson, Iain; Mooney, Scott D. (2013-09-03). "Reply to Brook et al: No empirical evidence for human overkill of megafauna in Sahul". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (36): E3369. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110E3369W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1310440110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3767508. PMID 24137797.
  44. Dortch, Joe; Cupper, Matt; Grün, Rainer; Harpley, Bernice; Lee, Kerrie; Field, Judith (2016-08-01). "The timing and cause of megafauna mass deaths at Lancefield Swamp, south-eastern Australia". Quaternary Science Reviews. 145: 161–182. Bibcode:2016QSRv..145..161D. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.042. ISSN 0277-3791.
  45. Wroe, Stephen; Field, Judith H.; Archer, Michael; Grayson, Donald K.; Price, Gilbert J.; Louys, Julien; Faith, J. Tyler; Webb, Gregory E.; Davidson, Iain; Mooney, Scott D. (2013-05-28). "Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (22): 8777–8781. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.8777W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1302698110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3670326. PMID 23650401.
  46. Norton, C. J.; Kondo, Y.; Ono, A.; Zhang, Y.; Diab, M. C. (2009-05-23). "The nature of megafaunal extinctions during the MIS 3–2 transition in Japan". Quaternary International. 211 (1–2): 113–122. Bibcode:2010QuInt.211..113N. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.05.002.
  47. Faith, J. T.; Surovell, T. A. (2009-12-08). "Synchronous extinction of North America's Pleistocene mammals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (49): 20641–20645. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10620641F. doi:10.1073/pnas.0908153106. PMC 2791611. PMID 19934040.
  48. Haynes, Gary (2009). "Introduction to the Volume". In Haynes, Gary (ed.). American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer. pp. 1–20. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_1. ISBN 978-1-4020-8792-9.
  49. Fiedel, Stuart (2009). "Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction". In Haynes, Gary (ed.). American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer. pp. 21–37. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2. ISBN 978-1-4020-8792-9.
  50. Simmons, A. H. (1999). Faunal extinction in an island society: pygmy hippopotamus hunters of Cyprus. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. p. 382. doi:10.1007/b109876. ISBN 978-0-306-46088-3. OCLC 41712246.
  51. Simmons, A. H.; Mandel, R. D. (December 2007). "Not Such a New Light: A Response to Ammerman and Noller". World Archaeology. 39 (4): 475–482. doi:10.1080/00438240701676169. JSTOR 40026143. S2CID 161791746.
  52. Steadman, D. W.; Martin, P. S.; MacPhee, R. D. E.; Jull, A. J. T.; McDonald, H. G.; Woods, C. A.; Iturralde-Vinent, M.; Hodgins, G. W. L. (2005-08-16). "Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 102 (33): 11763–11768. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10211763S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0502777102. PMC 1187974. PMID 16085711.
  53. Cooke, S. B.; Dávalos, L. M.; Mychajliw, A. M.; Turvey, S. T.; Upham, N. S. (2017). "Anthropogenic Extinction Dominates Holocene Declines of West Indian Mammals". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 48 (1): 301–327. doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022754. S2CID 90558542.
  54. Anderson, A.; Sand, C.; Petchey, F.; Worthy, T. H. (2010). "Faunal extinction and human habitation in New Caledonia: Initial results and implications of new research at the Pindai Caves". Journal of Pacific Archaeology. 1 (1): 89–109. hdl:10289/5404.
  55. White, A. W.; Worthy, T. H.; Hawkins, S.; Bedford, S.; Spriggs, M. (2010-08-16). "Megafaunal meiolaniid horned turtles survived until early human settlement in Vanuatu, Southwest Pacific". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 107 (35): 15512–15516. Bibcode:2010PNAS..10715512W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1005780107. PMC 2932593. PMID 20713711.
  56. Burney, D. A.; Burney, L. P.; Godfrey, L. R.; Jungers, W. L.; Goodman, S. M.; Wright, H. T.; Jull. A. J. T. (July 2004). "A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar". Journal of Human Evolution. 47 (1–2): 25–63. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.05.005. PMID 15288523.
  57. Holdaway, R. N.; Jacomb, C. (2000-03-24). "Rapid Extinction of the Moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes): Model, Test, and Implications". Science. 287 (5461): 2250–2254. Bibcode:2000Sci...287.2250H. doi:10.1126/science.287.5461.2250. PMID 10731144.
  58. Janoo, A. (April 2005). "Discovery of isolated dodo bones (Raphus cucullatus (L.), Aves, Columbiformes) from Mauritius cave shelters highlights human predation, with a comment on the status of the family Raphidae Wetmore, 1930". Annales de Paléontologie. 91 (2): 167–180. Bibcode:2005AnPal..91..167J. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2004.12.002.
  59. Anderson, P. K. (July 1995). "Competition, Predation, and the Evolution and Extinction of Steller's Sea Cow, Hydrodamalis gigas". Marine Mammal Science. 11 (3): 391–394. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.1995.tb00294.x. Archived from the original on 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2011-08-30.
  60. Cooper, A.; Turney, C.; Hughen, K. A.; Brook, B. W.; McDonald, H. G.; Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2015-07-23). "Abrupt warming events drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic megafaunal turnover". Science. 349 (6248): 602–6. Bibcode:2015Sci...349..602C. doi:10.1126/science.aac4315. PMID 26250679. S2CID 31686497.
  61. Müller, U. C.; Pross, J.; Tzedakis, P. C.; Gamble, C.; Kotthoff, U.; Schmiedl, G.; Wulf, S.; Christanis, K. (February 2011). "The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe". Quaternary Science Reviews. 30 (3–4): 273–279. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30..273M. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.11.016.
  62. Biello, D. (2012-03-22). "Big Kill, Not Big Chill, Finished Off Giant Kangaroos". Scientific American news. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  63. McGlone, M. (2012-03-23). "The Hunters Did It". Science. 335 (6075): 1452–1453. Bibcode:2012Sci...335.1452M. doi:10.1126/science.1220176. PMID 22442471. S2CID 36914192.
  64. Rule, S.; Brook, B. W.; Haberle, S. G.; Turney, C. S. M.; Kershaw, A. P. (2012-03-23). "The Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem Transformation in Pleistocene Australia". Science. 335 (6075): 1483–1486. Bibcode:2012Sci...335.1483R. doi:10.1126/science.1214261. PMID 22442481. S2CID 26675232.
  65. Johnson, C. N.; Alroy, J.; Beeton, N. J.; Bird, M. I.; Brook, B. W.; Cooper, A.; Gillespie, R.; Herrando-Pérez, S.; Jacobs, Z.; Miller, G. H.; Prideaux, G. J.; Roberts, R. G.; Rodríguez-Rey, M.; Saltré, F.; Turney, C. S. M.; Bradshaw, C. J. A. (10 February 2016). "What caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna of Sahul?". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1824): 20152399. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2399. PMC 4760161. PMID 26865301.
  66. Miller, G. H.; Magee, J. W.; Johnson, B. J.; Fogel, M. L.; Spooner, N. A.; McCulloch, M. T.; Ayliffe, L. K. (1999-01-08). "Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis newtoni: Human Impact on Australian Megafauna". Science. 283 (5399): 205–208. doi:10.1126/science.283.5399.205. PMID 9880249.
  67. Miller, G.; Magee, J.; Smith, M.; Spooner, N.; Baynes, A.; Lehman, S.; Fogel, M.; Johnston, H.; Williams, D.; Clark, P.; Florian, C.; Holst, R.; DeVogel, S. (2016-01-29). "Human predation contributed to the extinction of the Australian megafaunal bird Genyornis newtoni ~47 ka". Nature Communications. 7: 10496. Bibcode:2016NatCo...710496M. doi:10.1038/ncomms10496. PMC 4740177. PMID 26823193.
  68. Johnson, C. (2009-11-20). "Megafaunal Decline and Fall". Science. 326 (5956): 1072–1073. Bibcode:2009Sci...326.1072J. doi:10.1126/science.1182770. PMID 19965418. S2CID 206523763.
  69. Gill, J. L.; Williams, J. W.; Jackson, S. T.; Lininger, K. B.; Robinson, G. S. (2009-11-20). "Pleistocene Megafaunal Collapse, Novel Plant Communities, and Enhanced Fire Regimes in North America" (PDF). Science. 326 (5956): 1100–1103. Bibcode:2009Sci...326.1100G. doi:10.1126/science.1179504. PMID 19965426. S2CID 206522597.
  70. Fiedal, Stuart (2009). "Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction". In Haynes, Gary (ed.). American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer. pp. 21–37. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8793-6_2. ISBN 978-1-4020-8792-9.
  71. Martin, P. S. (2005). "Chapter 4. Ground Sloths at Home". Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America. University of California Press. pp. 78–99. ISBN 978-0-520-23141-2. OCLC 58055404. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  72. Milman, Oliver (February 6, 2019). "The killing of large species is pushing them towards extinction, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  73. Ripple, W. J.; et al. (2019). "Are we eating the world's megafauna to extinction?". Conservation Letters. 12 (3): e12627. doi:10.1111/conl.12627.
  74. Alroy, J. (2008-08-12). "Dynamics of origination and extinction in the marine fossil record". PNAS. 105 Suppl 1 (Supplement_1): 11536–11542. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10511536A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0802597105. PMC 2556405. PMID 18695240.
  75. Wolf, A.; Doughty, C. E.; Malhi, Y. (2013). "Lateral Diffusion of Nutrients by Mammalian Herbivores in Terrestrial Ecosystems". PLoS ONE. 8 (8): e71352. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...871352W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071352. PMC 3739793. PMID 23951141.
  76. Marshall, M. (2013-08-11). "Ecosystems still feel the pain of ancient extinctions". New Scientist. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
  77. Doughty, C. E.; Wolf, A.; Malhi, Y. (2013-08-11). "The legacy of the Pleistocene megafauna extinctions on nutrient availability in Amazonia". Nature Geoscience. 6 (9): 761–764. Bibcode:2013NatGe...6..761D. doi:10.1038/ngeo1895.
  78. Roman, J.; McCarthy, J.J. (2010). "The Whale Pump: Marine Mammals Enhance Primary Productivity in a Coastal Basin". PLOS ONE. 5 (10): e13255. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...513255R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013255. PMC 2952594. PMID 20949007.
  79. Wilkinson, D. M.; Nisbet, E. G.; Ruxton, G. D. (2012-05-08). "Could methane produced by sauropod dinosaurs have helped drive Mesozoic climate warmth?". Current Biology. 22 (9): R292–R293. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.042. PMID 22575462.
  80. "Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth'". BBC Nature News. 2012-05-07. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  81. Smith, F. A.; Elliot, S. M.; Lyons, S. K. (2010-05-23). "Methane emissions from extinct megafauna". Nature Geoscience. 3 (6): 374–375. Bibcode:2010NatGe...3..374S. doi:10.1038/ngeo877.
  82. Kelliher, F. M.; Clark, H. (2010-03-15). "Methane emissions from bison—An historic herd estimate for the North American Great Plains". Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 150 (3): 473–577. Bibcode:2010AgFM..150..473K. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.11.019.
  83. Helgen, Kristofer M.; et al. (2006). "Ecological and evolutionary significance of sizes of giant extinct kangaroos" (PDF). Australian Journal of Zoology. 54 (4): 293–301. doi:10.1071/ZO05077 – via si.edu.
  84. Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61 (3): 537–574. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014. S2CID 2092950. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  85. Fariña, Richard A.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; De Iuliis, Gerry (22 May 2013). Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00719-3. OCLC 779244424.
  86. Zhang, Y.; Harrison, T. (2017). "Gigantopithecus blacki: a giant ape from the Pleistocene of Asia revisited". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 162 (S63): 153–177. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23150. PMID 28105715.
  87. Ruff, C. B.; Trinkaus, E.; Holliday, T. W. (1997-05-08). "Body mass and encephalization in Pleistocene Homo". Nature. 387 (6629): 173–176. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..173R. doi:10.1038/387173a0. PMID 9144286. S2CID 4320413.
  88. Grine, F. E.; Jumgers, W. L.; Tobias, P. V.; Pearson, O. M. (June 1995). "Fossil Homo femur from Berg Aukas, northern Namibia". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 97 (2): 151–185. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330970207. PMID 7653506.
  89. Kappelman, John (1997-05-08). "They might be giants". Nature. 387 (6629): 126–127. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..126K. doi:10.1038/387126a0. PMID 9144276. S2CID 4328242.
  90. de Barros Ferraz, K.M.P.M.; Bonach, K.; Verdade, L.M. (2005). "Relationship between body mass and body length in capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)". Biota Neotropica. 5 (1): 197–200. doi:10.1590/S1676-06032005000100020.
  91. Kitchener, A.C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11).
  92. Brakefield, Tom (1993). Big Cats: Kingdom of Might. Voyageur Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-89658-329-0.
  93. Nowell, Kristin; Jackson, Peter (1996). Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (PDF). Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. p. 56. ISBN 978-2-8317-0045-8.
  94. Kitchener, A.; Yamaguchi, N. (2009). "What is a Tiger? Biogeography, Morphology, and Taxonomy". In Tilson, R.; Nyhus, P. J. (eds.). Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris. Academic Press. pp. 53–84. ISBN 978-0-08-094751-8.
  95. Slaght, J. C., Miquelle, D. G., Nikolaev, I. G., Goodrich, J. M., Smirnov, E. N., Traylor-Holzer, K., Christie, S., Arjanova, T., Smith, J. L. D. and Karanth, K. U. (2005). "Chapter 6. Who's king of the beasts? Historical and contemporary data on the body weight of wild and captive Amur tigers in comparison with other subspecies" (PDF). In D. G. Miquelle; E. N. Smirnov; J.M. Goodrich (eds.). Tigers in Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik: Ecology and Conservation (in Russian). Vladivostok, Russia: PSP. pp. 25–35.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  96. "Samson - the Biggest Tiger".
  97. DeMaster, D.P.; Stirling, I. (8 May 1981). "Ursus maritimus". Mammalian Species (145): 1–7. doi:10.2307/3504138. JSTOR 3503828.
  98. Pasitschniak-Arts, M. (23 April 1993). "Ursus arctos". Mammalian Species (439): 1–10. doi:10.2307/3503828. JSTOR 3504138.
  99. Soibelzon, L. H.; Schubert, B. W. (January 2011). "The Largest Known Bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the Early Pleistocene Pampean Region of Argentina: With a Discussion of Size and Diet Trends in Bears". Journal of Paleontology. 85 (1): 69–75. doi:10.1666/10-037.1. hdl:11336/104215. S2CID 129585554. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  100. Swift, E. M. (1997-11-17). "What Big Mouths They Have: Travelers in Africa who run afoul of hippos may not live to tell the tale". Sports Illustrated Vault. Time Inc. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  101. ^ J. Calambokidis and G. Steiger (1998). Blue Whales. Voyageur Press. ISBN 0-89658-338-4.
  102. ^ "Animal Records". Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  103. "Killer Whale (Orca) Facts and Information". SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  104. "The Archelon". Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  105. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.
  106. Moyano, S.R.; Giannini, N.P. (2018-10-10). "Cranial characters associated with the proboscis postnatal-development in Tapirus (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) and comparisons with other extant and fossil hoofed mammals". Zoologischer Anzeiger. 277 (7554): 143–147. doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2018.08.005. ISSN 0044-5231. S2CID 92143497.
  107. Tsubamoto, T. (2012). "Estimating body mass from the astragalus in mammals". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica: 259–265. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0067. S2CID 54686160.
  108. Sample, Ian (19 February 2010). "Great white shark is more endangered than tiger, claims scientist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2013.

https://inauralist.ala.org.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.