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Madagascar is a large, relatively isolated island about 260 miles off the African coast. Due to its inaccessibility, it has long been thought that Madagascar was discovered late by humans, providing a "lost world" for a single endemic megafauna, like the giant lemurs and the world's largest bird, the bird elephant. Aepyornis maximus.
Eggs of elephant birds.D.Bressan
The earliest established human settlements date back to the year 500. Shortly after, the frequency of fires in the central uplands increases, while humans used fire to clear forests. The increase in grass pollen throughout the island around the year 1000 shows that pastures for livestock now replace forests. Around the year 1500, the first Europeans set foot on Madagascar. When humans degraded forests and hunted animals, endemic megafauna quickly disappeared.
In 2008, rumors of dinosaur bone discovery led anthropologist Patricia Wright to Ilakaka, in south-central Island. Ilakaka was once a quiet rural village, but after the discovery of important gemstone deposits in the basement, what was once a quiet rural village was transformed into a "Wild West" town with about 30 000 inhabitants and hundreds of newcomers. The dinosaur bones, discovered by chance while searching for sapphires, are actually giant lemur bones, hippos, giant turtles, crocodiles and elephant birds.
When the bones were examined in 2016, zoologist James Hansford, lead author of a new article, made an important discovery. Leg bone Aepyornis maximus, dated 10 500 years, shows grooves made by stone tools. This discovery suggests that humans arrived on the island more than 8,000 years earlier than previously thought, chasing the bird and killing it on the site.
The dated fossils show that most of the megafauna of Madagascar was extinct less than 1,000 years ago and that written documents suggest that some species have reached the beginning of modern times. After a long stay in this country, Admiral Etienne de Flacourt published in 1658 his History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and gave a lot of very precise information on the fauna so different from that of the African continent. Among the woodland birds, he mentioned the "Vouronpatra", a large bird that haunts the Amphora (marsh in the central highlands) and lays eggs like those of the ostrich; so that people from these places do not take it, he looks for the most isolated places. There is no physical evidence, but can this sighting describe a species of surviving elephant bird. The elephant name itself derives from Arab stories on the rock, a mythological eagle so great that it could pick up elephants.
In addition to the reconstitution of the colonization of Madagascar, the new discovery also reopen the question of the extinction of the local megafauna. Apparently, humans and elephant birds have coexisted for nearly 9,000 years. Excessive hunting by the first humans to live on the island does not seem to be the main cause. Climate change alone can not explain the disappearance of most species about 1,000 years ago, while the hottest and driest period of Madagascar occurred 4,500 years ago. It is still possible that the introduction of agriculture and habitat destruction 1,500 to 1,000 years ago has played a major role. It is also unknown how many human beings lived on the island between 10,500 and 2,000 years ago. The apparent lack of human presence on the island may suggest that the first hunters visited Madagascar only occasionally, or that no permanent settlement has ever been established. It is also possible that we still have to find traces of the first Malagasy, hidden elsewhere, like the famous precious stones of Madagascar.
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Madagascar is a large, relatively isolated island about 260 miles off the African coast. Due to its inaccessibility, it has long been thought that Madagascar was discovered late by humans, providing a "lost world" for a single endemic megafauna, like the giant lemurs and the world's largest bird, the bird elephant. Aepyornis maximus.
Eggs of elephant birds.D.Bressan
The earliest established human settlements date back to the year 500. Shortly after, the frequency of fires in the central uplands increases, while humans used fire to clear forests. The increase in grass pollen throughout the island around the year 1000 shows that pastures for livestock now replace forests. Around the year 1500, the first Europeans set foot on Madagascar. When humans degraded forests and hunted animals, endemic megafauna quickly disappeared.
In 2008, rumors of dinosaur bone discovery led anthropologist Patricia Wright to Ilakaka, in south-central Island. Ilakaka was once a quiet rural village, but after the discovery of important gemstone deposits in the basement, what was once a quiet rural village was transformed into a "Wild West" town with about 30 000 inhabitants and hundreds of newcomers. The dinosaur bones, discovered by chance while searching for sapphires, are actually giant lemur bones, hippos, giant turtles, crocodiles and elephant birds.
When the bones were examined in 2016, zoologist James Hansford, lead author of a new article, made an important discovery. Leg bone Aepyornis maximus, dated 10 500 years, shows grooves made by stone tools. This discovery suggests that humans arrived on the island more than 8,000 years earlier than previously thought, chasing the bird and killing it on the site.
The dated fossils show that most of the megafauna of Madagascar was extinct less than 1,000 years ago and that written documents suggest that some species have reached the beginning of modern times. After a long stay in this country, Admiral Etienne de Flacourt published in 1658 his History of the Great Isle of Madagascar and gave a lot of very precise information on the fauna so different from that of the African continent. Among the woodland birds, he mentioned the "Vouronpatra", a large bird that haunts the Amphora (marsh in the central highlands) and lays eggs like those of the ostrich; so that people from these places do not take it, he looks for the most isolated places. There is no physical evidence, but can this sighting describe a species of surviving elephant bird. The elephant name itself derives from Arab stories on the rock, a mythological eagle so great that it could pick up elephants.
In addition to the reconstitution of the colonization of Madagascar, the new discovery also reopen the question of the extinction of the local megafauna. Apparently, humans and elephant birds have coexisted for nearly 9,000 years. Excessive hunting by the first humans to live on the island does not seem to be the main cause. Climate change alone can not explain the disappearance of most species about 1,000 years ago, while the hottest and driest period of Madagascar occurred 4,500 years ago. It is still possible that the introduction of agriculture and habitat destruction 1,500 to 1,000 years ago has played a major role. It is also unknown how many human beings lived on the island between 10,500 and 2,000 years ago. The apparent lack of human presence on the island may suggest that the first hunters visited Madagascar only occasionally, or that no permanent settlement has ever been established. It is also possible that we still have to find traces of the first Malagasy, hidden elsewhere, like the famous precious stones of Madagascar.
