Obviously we should start reparations with the elephants because of our ancestors killing their relatives off. Perhaps we should allow them to buy carbon offsets at a cheaper rate.

/I'm trolling folks.. relax its Friday

Being tasty was a big impediment to survival when man was nomadic, however these days it's a huge plus. I don't think the cow, chicken or turkey will be going extinct anytime soon.

So, they claim to have eliminated several hypostheses, but do they postulate one of their own? What do they think were the major driving forces behind the megafaunal extinction event?

I guess I have a paper to read over lunch.

nekom: Being tasty was a big impediment to survival when man was nomadic, however these days it's a huge plus. I don't think the cow, chicken or turkey will be going extinct anytime soon.

Tasty these days is great for a species, horrible for an individual.
I LOVE veal.

There's a place for all of God's creatures.

Right next to the mashed potatoes.

They died of acute lung trauma.

/blood and thunder - not recommended for use with lungs

They also made shiatty music.

Great album.

Some of them also probably split their lungs with blood and thunder.

/When they saw the white whale

Good thing I got to see them in concert before they died.

I am all for explaining what happened in the past, but these guys sometimes way over-complicate things. Those species were around for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years before humans rolled onto the scene. During that time there were several ice ages, all of which they survived. Climates change, but they change so slow that usually the species can move around. Yeah their populations will wax and wane depending on the climate, but all those American large mammals were well established.

Then all of a sudden, around the same time that humans were crossing the earth, all of them go extinct at around the same time? Wow, takes a real freaking genius to figure out that humans were the sole cause.

Pre-technology humans caused some of the largest mass extinctions ever known aside from planetary natural disasters.

/don't get me started with Neanderthals either

I hadn't even thought this was up for discussion.

People have been Eating Tasty Animals for a long time. And you don't need a good spearpoint to chase an animal over a cliff.

Quasar: They also made shiatty music.

So, we're in agreement that God decided to smite Mastodon after they released Colony of Birchmen?

Barry McCackiner: Pre-technology humans caused some of the largest mass extinctions ever known aside from planetary natural disasters.

/don't get me started with Neanderthals either

Were they tasty too?

Quasar: They also made shiatty music.

You shut your whore mouth.

/Mastodon and Dethklok in Austin last Friday FTW

Celerian: Quasar: They also made shiatty music.

So, we're in agreement that God decided to smite Mastodon after they released Colony of Birchmen?

You know why everyone hates metalheads?

This is why.

Handsome B. Wonderful: Barry McCackiner: Pre-technology humans caused some of the largest mass extinctions ever known aside from planetary natural disasters.

/don't get me started with Neanderthals either

Were they tasty too?

No, it is just they use the same climate arguments to explain why they died off. Neanderthals were the same in that they were there for at least 300,000 years, enough for several ice ages. Yet somehow they managed to go extinct right as humans were making their march. Considering that we actively war with each other, it doesn't take much of a leap of logic to think that humans probably just warred/displaced them.

FarkinFarker: Quasar: They also made shiatty music.

You shut your whore mouth.

/Mastodon and Dethklok in Austin last Friday FTW

Saw that on Halloween. AWESOME show, even when they farked up the beginning of Divinations (Brandon's monitor went out during the intro, so they had to re-start).

And Crack the Skye is quite possibly the best prog-metal album in recent memory.

Actually, TFA says that there is no evidence yet that humans were involved at all.

"
"We're not ruling out humans so far," she said, but she doesn't feel she has enough evidence to point a finger at human hunters."

I prefer brontosaurus to mastodon.

/Yabba dabba doo.

KarmicDisaster: Actually, TFA says that there is no evidence yet that humans were involved at all.

"
"We're not ruling out humans so far," she said, but she doesn't feel she has enough evidence to point a finger at human hunters."

Uhh, the article also says: Even if the Clovis hunters, with their advanced technology, did not start the decline, "they were certainly part of the story, and probably account for the final demise," Johnson said.

"My view of all the evidence . . . is that human hunting was the sole cause of the megafaunal extinction, and that other factors such as climate change had nothing to do with it."

So yeah.

What the person who is doing the research said is that they don't have EVIDENCE that the humans did it. Well since they are looking at the bottom of a lake that seems to make sense to me. Humans would be basically destroying all evidence of their kills by both reusing their weapons and using all parts of the corpses. It makes sense that there wouldn't be much evidence.

Then what hope do I have?

Barry McCackiner: Then all of a sudden, around the same time that humans were crossing the earth, all of them go extinct at around the same time? Wow, takes a real freaking genius to figure out that humans were the sole cause.

Pre-technology humans caused some of the largest mass extinctions ever known aside from planetary natural disasters.

Endurance running, social cooperation, and stone tools are all we needed to kick this planet's ASS.

They must have tasted like bacon...

The Shoveller: So, they claim to have eliminated several hypostheses, but do they postulate one of their own? What do they think were the major driving forces behind the megafaunal extinction event?

I guess I have a paper to read over lunch.

Who cares, it's a furball.

That reminds me, I have to finish the discussion section of my shark vs. Tylosaurus paper this month. Only 41 days left in the paleo paper challenge!

came for the Mastodon references

MASTADON!

Unpossible! Native Americans lived in peace with nature, taking only what they needed. Except those that drove thousands of buffalo off cliffs.

/Man is as ethical as his options.

FLMountainMan: Unpossible! Native Americans lived in peace with nature, taking only what they needed. Except those that drove thousands of buffalo off cliffs.

/Man is as ethical as his options.

If you had thousands of people participating in the yearly cliff-drive, maybe it wasn't as wasteful as it looks.

That's a lot of jerky and skins and things, without a lot of risk for the hunters compared to more "one-on-one" hunting methods. Sorta like the yearly tuna round-ups they do in the Mediterranean. Less boat trips=less risk.

Plus you could also have a gigantic party with people from all the surrounding tribes you don't see very often.

Choked to death on their overgrown beards.

Brann survived, but then killed himself in a plane crash so as to be more like Randy Rhoads.

Disappointed.

Don't you guys have any atlatls?

FLMountainMan: Unpossible! Native Americans lived in peace with nature, taking only what they needed. Except those that drove thousands of buffalo off cliffs.

Back then, they weren't Native Americans, they were recent descendants of migrants who crossed the Bering Strait land bridge and therefore horribly evil to all living things.

I read an article about these guys who got stuck in the Arctic somewhere and found some frozen Mastodon... They thawed some out, cooked it up, and ate it. They said it tasted like... rotten meat. But it kept them alive, so... :)

But I bet fresh Mastodon would be tasty. I'd make a bacon wrapped Mastodon loaf and serve it with a bunch of mashed potatoes and gravy. :D

After they ate all the mastodons then how did they shower? Is that when modern plumbing was invented?

JohnnyC: I read an article about these guys who got stuck in the Arctic somewhere and found some frozen Mastodon... They thawed some out, cooked it up, and ate it. They said it tasted like... rotten meat. But it kept them alive, so... :)

But I bet fresh Mastodon would be tasty. I'd make a bacon wrapped Mastodon loaf and serve it with a bunch of mashed potatoes and gravy. :D


A lot of those frozen Siberian mammoths have been found by people because hungry sled dogs got there first. It's edible, just not very good.