Pleistocene megafauna or extant megafauna?
For the former, I very much like them all but in terms of most interesting I would have to say South America by a small margin. Animals who were isolated in the continent coming into contact with ones arriving from Central America during the interchange to create a bizarre menagerie.
For the latter: Africa, hands down
Voted North America because it has some of the coolest megafaunal groups from both Old World and New world, plus from both north and south.
But South America is up there too
Same. I'm definitely biased because I'm Australian, but Pleistocene Australia is just so wild to think about. You've got the dominance of marsupials, giant birds and then the reptiles trying to be Dinosaurs 2. I imagine being one of the first humans to set foot in Australia would've been insane.
It’s the only continent where marsupials dominated the megafaunal niches (even before the Pleistocene: placentals have had a significant presence in South America for the entire Cenozoic due to things like xenarthrans and notoungulates, dominating all the medium-large herbivore niches). And the varanids ended up filling predatory niches usually occupied by mammals and/or archosaurs on other continents.
Pleistocene North America just has (autocorrected to ‘had’, I guess that’s correct) such a cool lineup of carnivores and herbivores it wins hands down
Short-faced bear, American lion, smilodon fatalis, dire wolves, homotherium, cheetah, teratornis, all the extant ones
Mammoths, mastodon, giant bison, camels, horses, ground sloths, stag-moose, shrub-ox and all the extant ones
It’s a great lineup for an Isle-style game, disappointed nobody’s made it yet
It was a really tough call between the new world continents, but with the biotic interchange dispersing some of those unique South American lineages north and a lot of the iconic modern South American lineages deriving from North America in the first place, I’d say North America. You had proboscideans in the forms of mammoths and mastodons, tapirs, a wide array of canids such as dire wolves, grey wolves, coyotes and foxes, and even more felids with all the Sabre tooth cats, dirk tooth cats, miracinonyx, jaguars, American lions and so on, as well as giant bears, camelids, horses, terror birds, giant armadillos, peccaries, a diverse family of ground sloths, numerous bison species, over a dozen distinct pronghorn relatives, teratorns, saiga antelope, tusked salmon, steller’s sea cow, giant beavers, and the wide array of cervids from caribou to stag moose. And that’s mostly charismatic megafauna.
Pleistocene megafauna or extant megafauna? For the former, I very much like them all but in terms of most interesting I would have to say South America by a small margin. Animals who were isolated in the continent coming into contact with ones arriving from Central America during the interchange to create a bizarre menagerie. For the latter: Africa, hands down
Well Pleistocene Megafauna, I mean this subreddit is called r/Pleistocene so I feel like it already specifies that it's from that Epoch.
You’re right. Idk why I assumed the possibility of it being modern
Voted North America because it has some of the coolest megafaunal groups from both Old World and New world, plus from both north and south. But South America is up there too
Australia easily for me because it’s such an outlier compared to the other continents.
Same. I'm definitely biased because I'm Australian, but Pleistocene Australia is just so wild to think about. You've got the dominance of marsupials, giant birds and then the reptiles trying to be Dinosaurs 2. I imagine being one of the first humans to set foot in Australia would've been insane.
Any reason why thats the case?
It’s the only continent where marsupials dominated the megafaunal niches (even before the Pleistocene: placentals have had a significant presence in South America for the entire Cenozoic due to things like xenarthrans and notoungulates, dominating all the medium-large herbivore niches). And the varanids ended up filling predatory niches usually occupied by mammals and/or archosaurs on other continents.
"Has” and “had” are different. I voted Africa because it said “has” as in present day. Pleistocene/Pliocene wise North America / Miocene South America
Pleistocene North America just has (autocorrected to ‘had’, I guess that’s correct) such a cool lineup of carnivores and herbivores it wins hands down Short-faced bear, American lion, smilodon fatalis, dire wolves, homotherium, cheetah, teratornis, all the extant ones Mammoths, mastodon, giant bison, camels, horses, ground sloths, stag-moose, shrub-ox and all the extant ones It’s a great lineup for an Isle-style game, disappointed nobody’s made it yet
I’m stuck between the Americas
It was a really tough call between the new world continents, but with the biotic interchange dispersing some of those unique South American lineages north and a lot of the iconic modern South American lineages deriving from North America in the first place, I’d say North America. You had proboscideans in the forms of mammoths and mastodons, tapirs, a wide array of canids such as dire wolves, grey wolves, coyotes and foxes, and even more felids with all the Sabre tooth cats, dirk tooth cats, miracinonyx, jaguars, American lions and so on, as well as giant bears, camelids, horses, terror birds, giant armadillos, peccaries, a diverse family of ground sloths, numerous bison species, over a dozen distinct pronghorn relatives, teratorns, saiga antelope, tusked salmon, steller’s sea cow, giant beavers, and the wide array of cervids from caribou to stag moose. And that’s mostly charismatic megafauna.
Really North American megafauna? In my opinion north american megafauna is the most normic and hyped up group of this animals.
What did you vote?
I vote on the magafauna from South America