牛顿巨鸟的灭绝与人类有很大关系

Ancient extinction ¹ of giant Australian bird points to humans The first direct evidence that humans played a substantial role in the extinction of the huge, wondrous ² beasts inhabiting Australia some 50,000 years ago -- in this case a 500-pound bird -- has been discovered by a University of Colorado Boulder-led team. , ,The flightless bird, known as Genyornis newtoni, was nearly 7 feet tall and appears to have lived in much of Australia prior to the establishment of humans on the continent 50,000 years ago, said CU-Boulder Professor Gifford Miller ³. The evidence consists of diagnostic burn patterns on Genyornis eggshell fragments that indicate humans were collecting and cooking its eggs, thereby ⁴ reducing the birds' reproductive success. , ,"We consider this the first and only secure evidence that humans were directly preying ⁵ on now-extinct Australian megafauna," said Miller, associate director of CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine ⁶ Research. "We have documented these characteristically burned Genyornis eggshells at more than 200 sites across the continent.", ,A paper on the subject appears online Jan. 29, in Nature Communications.