title: The evolution of man and the extinction of animals.
abstract: Africa has lost only very few big mammals at the end of the pleistocene. Evidence is put forward that the reason for the present richness of the African mammal fauna is a very early coevolution between evolving man and the megafauna of this area. Areas without such an early coevolution suffered severe losses (up to 100%) of their native megafauna, when early hunters invaded them.
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity