African Megaherbivore Diversity Graphs (IMAGE)

Arizona State University

African Megaherbivore Diversity Graphs

Caption

The decline of African megaherbivore diversity (gray curve) over the last seven million years was driven by falling atmospheric carbon dioxide and the expansion of grasslands, not ancient hominin impacts. The onset of the megaherbivore decline around 4.6 million years ago (red dashed line and shading) occurs well before the appearance of tool-bearing hominin species capable of hunting large prey.

Credit

John Rowan

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