The Megafauna at Lake Mungo When archaeologists were studying Lake
Mungo they discovered bones that came from megafauna ‘Big Animals’, which were
giant animals that used to live in Australia, these animals no longer exist on
Earth.
These animals included the Giant Emu, Giant Wombat, Giant Lion, Tasmanian Tiger, Giant Lizard and Giant Kangaroo. The megafauna became extinct when people came to live in Australia, so did they die off naturally or did humans kill them?
THEORY 1Climate change wiped out
the megafauna
THEORY 2Human hunting wiped out
the megafauna
THEORY 3 Humans used fire, and this
wiped out the megafauna
THEORY1:
1.The climate became drier
2.This
decreased the amount of food available to the megafauna
3.This also effected the amount water available
to the megafauna
4.The megafauna could not find new food or water
5.So they became extinct
THEORY 2:
1.The megafauna could not produce at a fast
enough rate to maintain their population
2.Humans hunted the megafauna
3.They killed many of them
4.So they died out
THEORY 3:
1.Humans used fire to help them hunt and to
change the vegetation
2.When the fire changed the vegetation it
destroyed the megafauna’s food sources
3.The megafauna did not have enough food left
4.So they died out
I believe theory 2. I think that humans (homo
sapiens) also thought that the megafauna were a threat to their existence so
they hunted and killed all the megafauna. The megafauna could have been
destroying the environment and reducing their food sources.