Featuring numerous illustrations this book explores the many lessons to be learned from
Pleistocene megafauna including the role of humans in their extinction their disappearance at
the start of the Sixth Extinction and what they might teach us about contemporary conservation
crises. Long after the extinction of dinosaurs when humans were still in the Stone Age woolly
rhinos mammoths mastodons sabertooth cats giant ground sloths and many other spectacular
large animals that are no longer with us roamed the Earth. These animals are regarded as
Pleistocene megafauna named for the geological era in which they lived--also known as the Ice
Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart
explores the lives and environments of these animals moving between six continents and several
key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via what we've learned from fossil remains
and he describes the landscapes climates vegetation ecological interactions and other
aspects of the animals' existence. Illustrated throughout Vanished Giants also offers a
picture of the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed.
Unlike the case of the dinosaurs there was no asteroid strike to blame for the end of their
world. Instead it appears that the giants of the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate
change human activities--especially hunting--or both. Drawing on the latest evidence provided
by radiocarbon dating Stuart discusses these possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age
megafauna can be seen as the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction which is happening
right now. This has important implications for understanding the likely fate of present-day
animals in the face of contemporary climate change and vastly increasing human populations.
