Ayliffe, Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: human impact on Australian megafauna, Science 283

More than 85 percent of Australian terrestrial genera with a body mass ex-ceeding 44 kilograms became extinct in the Late Pleistocene. Although most were marsupials, the list includes the large, ßightless mihirung Genyornis new-toni. More than 700 dates on Genyornis eggshells from three different climate regions document the continuous presence of Genyornis from more than 100,000 years ago until their sudden disappearance 50,000 years ago, about the same time that humans arrived in Australia. Simultaneous extinction of Ge-nyornis at all sites during an interval of modest climate change implies that human impact, not climate, was responsible. Australia suffered a major loss of its large-and medium-sized land mammals in the Late Pleistocene. All marsupials exceeding 100 kg (19 species) and 22 of 38 species between 10 and 100 kg became extinct (1), along with three large reptiles and the ostrich-sized Ge