Study: Humans not cause of Africa's animal extinction, causing PETA to have nobody to blame

There had been a longstanding view, particularly by members of PETA (Psychotics for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that it is the fault of humans that have caused the extinction of animals that previously occupied Africa.

Research published Friday in Science, discusses the authors' analysis of records on megaherbivore communities in eastern Africa over 7 million years. Since 'mega' means large, and 'herbivore' means animals that consume plants, a megaherbivore are large animals that, like PETA, are vegetarians. In this case, they are mammals weighing over 2,000 pounds.

The study concluded that extinctions of these diverse mammal populations in Africa happened before evidence of human hunting, and eons before the advent of the NRA.

The long armed critter of eastern Africa

The reason for the decline of megaherbivores might have instead been due to environmental factors and perhaps declining CO2 in the atmosphere and expansion of grasslands.

"Low CO2 levels favor tropical grasses over trees, and as a consequence savannas became less woody and more open through time," John Rowan, a postdoctoral scientist from the University of Massachusetts Amherst said in a statement. He added: "We know that many of the extinct megaherbivores fed on woody vegetation, so they seem to disappear alongside their food source."

Do we really still need this?

The study suggest that 28 lineages of the big critters went extinct, starting around 4.6 million years ago, according to lead researcher Tyler Faith, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah.

Of the megaherbivores that still exist today are elephants, hippopotamuses, giraffes and white and black rhinoceroses.

PETA emphasizes that we have to love them, and all creatures, for what they are.


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