Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

us of Pleistocene megafauna inhabiting all other continents in the past. Just some 15,000years ago herds of mammoths roamed the plains of Europe and Northern America accompaniedby wooly rhinoceros, cave lions, bears, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths andother spectacular animals which today we only know about from their skeletal remains.But in Africa many large mammals, such as elephants, hippos, rhinoceroses, giraffes andbuffalos survived, and some species, such as zebra and wildebeest, still perform their magnificent,mass annual migrations today. Alongside these species, large predators survivedas well—lions, leopards and cheetahs—and also several species of our closest living relatives,chimpanzees, bonobos and lowland and mountain gorillas.As of now no generally accepted explanation for the reasons for extinction of Pleistocenemegafauna in Australia, Europe, Americans and Asia is known. However, in many casesthe time of their extinction corresponds with the time of human arrival to the territoriespreviously occupied by big animals. This coincidence provides fertile ground for an assumptionthat both events—the arrival of humans and the extinction of megafauna—are closelyconnected. There is not convincing evidence that people successfully and extensivelyhunted large mammals, for example mammoths, but it is quite possible that humans wereat least one of the factors that contributed to the demise of these magnificent animals.But why did megafauna also not disappear in Africa? The answer may lie in the fact thathumans were evolving in Africa much longer than elsewhere, so big mammals had thetime to gradually gain a healthy respect for this small, bare, seemingly defenseless bipedalprimate and its increasingly effective weapons. Whereas, large animals outside of Africawere confronted with “finished” men, equipped with sharp stone tools, spears, spearthrowers,bows and, of course, fire and human intellect. Without appropriate respect, the“naïve” large animals outside Africa became relatively easy prey for humans, whose populationscould, thanks to sufficient food provided by large animals, grow relatively quickly.Another possible reason why Africans did not kill off large animals could be due to therelatively low populations of humans in Africa. While populations outside of Africa weregrowing rather quickly, albeit nowhere close to the population growth of the last hundredyears, a harsh climate, limited development of agriculture and large numbers of pathogensand tropical diseases, for instance malaria and parasitic worms, kept human population inAfrica rather limited all the way up to the 20 th century. This too could have contributed tothe survival of many large African animals to the present times.Interest in Africa, of course, can also draw on the interest of its natural resources—timber,minerals, oil and agricultural products. In the past, the interest included hunger forslaves and ivory. It was the interest in commodities which led the Europeans and Arabs tobuild ports, fortified bases, towns and colonies alongside the African coasts in the West(Europeans) as well as the East (Arabs). Towards the end of 19 th century, European powerssubdivided the whole continent—with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia. Similarinterest in commodities and raw materials motivates Chinese and many other companiesand governments from Asia, Europe and the Americas in the early 21 st century. It may be11