Pleistocene

Out of the six inhabited continents of the world, Africa and its wildlife have been the least damaged by the end-Pleistocene extinction. This is likely due to the fact that African fauna evolved alongside human hunter-gatherers, and, thus, prey animals were already adapted to coexisting with Homo sapiens. However, the Pleistocene lasted over 2 million years, and in that time, much has changed. It being an Ice Age, the temperatures were much lower, and thus it generally took longer for water to evaporate and form clouds. In other words, the water cycle was slowed down, and rainfall levels decreased accordingly. Most of Africa’s tropical forests gave way to drier savannahs, although, surprisingly, the Sahara Desert was sometimes less arid… Around 14.5 thousand years ago, a change in the Earth’s orbit caused a strengthening of the annual monsoon of West Africa, which in turn brought the so-called African Humid Period upon the continent. With more precipitation directed to the Sahara region, dry sands became grasslands, and low-lying basins filled up with water to become vast lakes. Lake Chad is actually a remnant of one such Pleistocene lake, one which was so big it was practically an freshwater sea. Lake Mega-Chad, as it is known, was over a million square kilometres in area, absolutely dwarfing the Caspian Sea (the largest modern lake). Chad today is over 700 times smaller than this, and sadly continues to evaporate. This African Humid Period lasted beyond the end of the Pleistocene, only coming to a close five or six thousand years ago. Before the Sahara returned to its arid state, there were even agricultural civilizations living there. These people have left behind a wealth of artwork, daubed onto sandstone rock. Cave paintings in Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, show a rich selection of wildlife including buffalo, rhinoceroses, hippos and elephants, none of which live there anymore. Another location in Egypt, known as the Cave of Swimmers, seems to depict people swimming in water. Today, there are no rivers or lakes anywhere near there, so it must have been much more humid at the time. This all happened after glacial times, though, so let’s get back to the question. In the modern world, Africa has more large megafauna than any other region, this being the reason it’s such a popular safari destination. However, there are still plenty of interesting animals which lived there in the Pleistocene epoch, but are now extinct. Here are some of my favourites. Pelorovis, a hefty buffalo-like beast whose magnificent horns each measured up to two metres in length. Rusingoryx, a wildebeest relative. It had a domed nasal cavity containing a complex network of passages, enabling it to produce deep, infrasound honking calls. Dinopithecus, the largest monkey of all time. This brutish baboon may have weighed as much as 77 kg. Megalotragus, an antelope which stood an impressive 1.4 metres at the shoulder. It was twice the size of a modern wildebeest! The quagga, a South African subspecies of the plains zebra famous for its unusual colouration. It only went extinct in 1883. Bos buaiensis, a massive cow from Eritrea which had a similar horn-span to the aforementioned Pelorovis. The Natodomeri lions, a mysterious extinct population of African lions which were extremely large, much bigger than any extant lion. Anyone who’s seen The Ghost and the Darkness will be chilled by this. Xenocyon, a hyper-carnivorous canine which was about the size of a wolf. It was probably the ancestor of the African wild dog of today, as well as the dhole. Pachycrocuta, a giant hyena the size of a lion. Like the modern spotted hyena, it was probably an active predator, not a scavenger. Theropithecus, a relative of the modern gelada of Ethiopia which was over twice as large. It had freakishly prominent cheekbones, which were anchor points for enormous jaw muscles. Hippopotamus gorgops, a supersized relative of the modern hippo which, weighing 3.9 tonnes, was the largest known even-toed ungulate ever to live. Its eyeballs were set on weird stalks, allowing it to see above water when submerged. Metridiochoerus, a giant warthog, which had four vicious-looking tusks curving up from its jaws. Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, likely the largest true crocodile ever to walk the Earth. It measured a staggering 8 metres in length!