Humans and climate drove giants of Madagascar to extinction

Nearly all Madagascan megafauna—including the famous dodo bird, gorilla-sized lemurs, giant tortoises, and the Elephant Bird, which stood 3 meters tall and weighted close to a half ton—vanished between 1,500 and 500 years ago. Were these animals overhunted to extinction by humans? Or did they disappear because of climate change? There are numerous hypotheses, but the exact cause of this megafauna crash remains elusive and hotly debated.

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