Unravelling an ancient European extinction mystery: Disappearance of dwarf megafauna on palaeolithic Cyprus

Scientists have unravelled a mystery about the disappearance of dwarf hippos and elephants that once roamed the picturesque landscape on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus before palaeolithic humans arrived.

Cyprus only had two species of megafauna present during the Late Pleistocene — the 500-kg dwarf elephant (Palaeoloxodon cypriotes), and the 130-kg dwarf hippo (Phanourios minor), but both species disappeared soon after humans arrived around 14,000 years ago.

In examining the reasons behind the extinction of these prehistoric animals, research funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation for project MIGRATE found that palaeolithic hunter-gatherers on Cyprus could have first driven dwarf hippos, and then dwarf elephants to extinction in less than 1000 years. The research was led by Flinders University’s Professor Corey Bradshaw.

These findings refute previous arguments that suggested the introduction of a small human population on the island could not have caused these extinctions so quickly.

The researchers built mathematical models combining data from various disciplines, including palaeontology and archaeology, to show that palaeolithic hunter-gatherers on Cyprus are most likely the main cause of the extinction of these species due to their hunting practices.

Professor Bradshaw, with Drs Theodora Moutsiou, Christian Reepmeyer, Frédérik Saltré, and Stefani Crabtree, used data-driven approaches to reveal the impact of rapid human settlement on driving the extinction of species soon after their arrival.

Using detailed reconstructions of human energy demand, diet composition, prey selection, and hunting efficiency, the model demonstrates that 3,000–7,000 hunter-gatherers predicted to have occurred on the island were likely responsible for driving both dwarf species to extinction.

“Our results therefore provide strong evidence that palaeolithic peoples in Cyprus were at least partially responsible for megafauna extinctions during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The main determinant of extinction risk for both species was the proportion of edible meat they provided to the first people on the island,” says lead author, Professor Corey Bradshaw of Flinders University.

“Our research lays the foundation for an improved understanding on the impact small human populations can have in terms of disrupting native ecosystems and causing major extinctions even during a period of low technological capacity.”

Predictions in the model matched the chronological sequence of megafauna extinctions in palaeontological records.

Dr Moutsiou says that “Cyprus is the perfect location to test our models because the island offers an ideal set of conditions to examine whether the arrival of populations of humans ultimately led to the extinction of its megafauna species. This is because Cyprus is an insular environment and can provide a window back in time through our data.”

Previous findings by Professor Bradshaw, Dr Moutsiou, and collaborators have shown that large groups of hundreds to thousands of people could have arrived on Cyprus in two to three main migration events in less than 1000 years.

The research – “Small populations of palaeolithic humans in Cyprus hunted endemic megafauna to extinction” by Corey Bradshaw, Frédérik Saltré, Stefani Crabtree, Christian Reepmeyer and Theodora Moutsiou – has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291: 20240967. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0967

The project Modelling Demography and Adaptation in the Initial Peopling of the Eastern Mediterranean Islandscape (MIGRATE, EXCELLENCE/0421/0050) is hosted at the Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus and coordinated by Dr Theodora Moutsiou.