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Ice Age Animals

Early theories

Africa

Why does the megafauna still exist in Africa?

The extinction of large animals that occurred in most parts of the world at the end of the last ice age did not happen in Africa. Much of the megafauna still exists in that part of the world-elephants, giraffe, rhinoceroses and the rest. This may be because the last ice age had little climatic effect on Africa. It is also thought that humans and the local megafauna evolved together in Africa, and so gradually became adapted to the presence of each other. However this does not explain why elephants, rhinoceroses and others survived in Asia where humans are recent arrivals.

Australopithecus afarensis.

Artist: Kate Nolan.

Source: Museum Victoria.

The fossil evidence for human evolution in Africa is extensive, with the East African Rift Valley producing a variety of extremely significant hominid remains. Many of these fossils are from the Pleistocene Epoch (the time of the recent ice ages). The oldest is Australopithecus afarensis (about 3.7 million years old), followed by Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and finally Homo sapiens. They are of great scientific interest, for they provide evidence of the origins of modern humans, who probably arose in this region about 100,000 years ago.