Extinction of Pleistocene megamammals in South America: The lost evidence

摘要

The extinction of the Pleistocene megamammals is one of the oldest unsolved questions of South American natural history. Data from this continent are rarely considered in synthesis papers and books produced in the Northern Hemisphere, and sometimes there is a claim that no adequate data can be found. The main point of this presentation is that there is a wealth of both paleontological and archaeological South American data which may help in the evaluation of the different theories and can be used to interpret the extinction event.