What caused mass extinction of animal species at the end of the iceage?

Answer 1

climate change.
species eliminate wen they cant suit a particular climatic condition which is different frm their home climate.

Answer 2

As with most things in nature, it's highly unlikely that there is just one, single ultimate cause for the mass extinctions. It was likely a culmination of a number of factors, the primary ones being climate change and human interaction.

At the end of the last ice age, there would naturally be considerable stress on a lot of animal populations. The growing zones of plant species, and changes in rainfall patterns would force a lot of species to migrate to new areas or die. Some of them no doubt were unable to find new ecological niches as the biomes shifted.

And it's hard to ignore the influence of human activity. In almost every region where humans were arriving and becoming dominant predators, the animals there underwent sudden extinctions, especially the large mammals sometimes referred to as megafauna.

Other regions, where humans did not reach until more recently, did not have the same level of extinctions. Also in Africa, where humans had evolved in the first place, there was little immediate extinctions. In fact, Africa is the only continent which kept most of its megafauna (elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippoes, etc.).

Places like Madagascar, New Zealand, and many other island regions did not have megafaunal extinctions until humans arrived. When people first arrived in New Zealand in the 1200s, there were huge flightless birds called moas, which went extinct within about 500 years of humans arriving. The giant elephant bird, giant lemurs and other species in Madagascar shared a similar fate.

On Wrangle Island, a remote arctic island north of Siberia, there were pygmy woolly mammoths that lasted about 5000 years longer than they did anywhere else. There is no evidence of human activity on the island until recently.

So even if humans aren't the only cause of the megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last ice age, they certainly appear to have had a major role in many regions.

Answer 3

I've read a lot of theories over the last few years. Scientists are working on it. Just remember that what anyone says is a theory and that is only an accepted opinion, not fact. There are some pretty good ducks out there now and I'm waiting for them to quack.

Answer 4

WOW there was climate change back then???
but i thought climate change was caused by man....
or does this just show that the modern day climate change caused by man is a myth?

Answer 5

Lack of food & drop in the temparature.

Answer 6

every thing died trees' grass ' no food for them and very cold weather got them