University of California Press Twilight of the Mammoths:: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Organisms and Environments)

A dissenting voice

2/18/2009

I enjoyed the content of Twilight of Mammoths and see it as a fascinating topic. However I am not enamored with Martin's book. Primary faults include:

1. Poor writing / choppy sentences / incoherent connections (is this the editor's fault?). I'm not expecting poetry from a scientist, but hope for proper revisions from a good editor.

2. Fails to adequately discuss the lack of kill sites for mammoths and sloths and only mentions it in passing (he actually acknowledges the distinct lack of kill sites, having only found bison and other such kill sites with verifiable Clovis points). Shouldn't this be of primary importance?

3. Talks at length of problems with the overchill theory (climate change). This is good. However why doesn't he discuss the overill theory (disease)? This seems to me quite feasible. Neglect of the topic undermines his desire for thoroughness.

4. Fails to address the question (even though he quotes a student who once asked it): If humans catalyzed so many extinctions, what about slow moving bison, bears, etc.? How could humans find and kill American lions, but not brutish ovids?

5. Fails to address how humans could be so thorough in their killing, extinguishing species from the most distant jungles in Central America. Even with advanced technology, this endevour would be most challenging today.

6. I like the anecdotes, but his thoughts seem scattered. The book is half-academic, half reader's digest. I'd prefer it made up its mind.

But please don't mistake my criticism for disapproval. The book is definitely worth the read, although I'd temper expectations.

The irrefutable argument is here.....

1/20/2009

I have read this book several times, as well as a number of other books on the subject and independent research as well, and to me, the author pts together in one volume just about all of the most cogent arguments in favor of human-caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. While there is certainly much more that can be said on the subject (the 'mammoth steppe' being a CREATION of the mammoth, not the other way around, etc), here are the soundest and best proved discussions. For those interested in the 'Pleistocene Park' project, I refer you to Sergei Zimov, and his marvelous work in Siberia (cehck him out on google).

Not light reading

1/22/2008

Well written and interesting, but not light reading for the average reader without a background in anthropology. Still, you will probably learn a lot, if you skip over the latin.

Great for Understanding Ice Age Mega Fauna Extinctions

11/12/2007

This book is an excellent, reasoned discourse on the evidence chain and the theories behind why large mammals in North America went extinct all at the same time - about 12,500 years ago. Before I read this book I had heard of the popular theories of why the north american megafauna went extinct, but had not heard which theory was most likely. Martin makes clear that the overkill theory has the greatest logical and evidentiary support.

it's important in science to keep an open mind about causes. Recently, more work has been done on an ash layer in the geologic record that suggests a great fire or possible comet explosion that may have occurred around the time of the megafauna extinctions in north america. I can believe that such an event had a contributing impact. After reading this book though, there is no question in my mind that n. american megafauna would have survived even a great fire or comet blast so long as they were not also subject to human induced causes.

The other great theories for ice age mammal extinction are referred to as 'overill', for disease-related explanations, and 'overchill', for cold climate explanations. Martin skillfully and convincingly refutes these theories for their unsound logic and lack of evidence.

It is clear to me now that the reason for this debate between overkill, overill, and overchill persists only because the evidentiary chain is not clearly in favor enough of any one of the 3. But the preponderance of evidence, and the soundest reasoning, favors overkill by at least a 10-1 compared to overill or overchill. I would expect future archaeological and paleontological discoveries to add to the evidence supporting overkill.

One final note: I am now a huge supporter of the Pleistocene park concept, and am hopeful that humans are able to rescue the remaining African and Asian megafauna from extinction with park reserves in Siberia and the Americas. I can envision now a park in Texas with asian elephants replacing mammoths, African or Asian lions once again bringing the lost American lion back to life, camels returning to their evolutionary American origins, wild horse herds, introduced threatened African or Asian ungulate species to stand in for their recently extinct American cousins, cheetahs returning, and even threatened tigers getting a second life as the replacement for now-extinct scimitar and saber tooth cats. I leave it to a zoologist to figure out how to replace a giant ground sloth, or even a Shasta ground sloth.

Other pleistocene park possibilities exist in other parts of the world. South america could easily see a return of elephants. The remaining ancestor of the short faced bear, which is the South American spectacled bear, is itself threatened and could use a reserve somewhere else in the world.

Enjoy this book!

Twilight of the Mammoths

10/9/2007

Paul Martin makes a strong arguement for human caused extinctions of ice-age mammals including the mammoths through human overkill hunting behavior. Insted of presenting an idea without support, Martin provides extensive documentation to support his position. However, as intriguing as his ideas about human involvement in the loss of ice-age and post ice-age mammals are, it is difficult to believe that humans spread to every nook and cranny of north, central and south America causing the extinction of every large mammal grouping present. Questions also arise regarding the type of animal they might have hunted versus other available animals. Why would early humans decide to hunt to extinction the giant bison when smaller and presumably less dangerous bison were available? Why would they possibly hunt the American lion, sabertooth tiger or dire wolves when there was, according to Martin, a wealth of animals available for food, skins and bone? Obviously, something happened toward the end of the last advance of continental ice sheets and the early peopling of the Americas, but I do not believe overkill is the sole cause of the disappearance of large mammals of the Americas. A combination of factors including human most likely is the cause of their loss.