News

Posted: Nov 18, 2015 - 12:00pm

Researchers have found that the extinction of North America's megafauna, such as large mammal species including mammoths and saber toothed cats, dramatically changed how species interacted after the end of last ice age, the Pleistocene, some 11,000 years ago.

The study, released recently in the journal Ecography, is among the first to examine how the extinction affected the distributions and interactions among surviving carnivores. The study focuses on the impacts on wolves, coyotes, foxes, and domestic dogs, collectively referred to as canids.

The research was led by Melissa Pardi, a doctoral candidate and paleontologist at the University of New Mexico, along with Felisa Smith, a professor of Biology also at UNM.

Read the full story at UNM Newsroom.