Monday, January 26, 2009

Environmental Science!


As we begin the work of the 2nd semester, we direct our attention toward the environment and on our impact on our planet.  Humans have impacted ecosystems as long as humans have existed.   Even the earliest hunter-gatherers influenced our planet in irreversible ways.  For example, archeologists have discovered several large mammals that lived on this continent 1,000s of years ago that are now extinct.  What happened to these amazing beasts?  They may have died off as a result of climatic changes (the ice age), but it is also possible that they were hunted to extinction.

BlogWork:
Research one of the following extinct large mammals from N. America.  Write a paragraph describing the animal and the evidence of its existence.  









16 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Dire Wolf went extinct about 11,500 years ago. It coincided with its fellow canines the gray wolves and the coyotes. The only reason scientists think the gray wolf did not survive is because, unlike the other two, it was a scavenger that depended on the many small creatures that went extinct before it, eventually causing their extinction. They were quite similar to the gray wolf, accept for a broader body, larger teeth, and shorter hind legs. Thousands have been discovered in the mid west, providing evidence to their existence.

Anonymous said...

The Saber Tooth tiger was one of the most popular animals during the Ice Age. There were two different kinds of sabertooths present during that time as well. one kind is the most familiar kind of sabertooth. These canines were up to 18 centimeters (7 inches) long. The other kind were 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. Both kinds of sabertooths went extinct over 11,500 years ago. Skeletons of both kinds of sabertooths have been found in North and South America, as well as Europe and Asia. The exo-skeletons proves the existence of these large cats.

Anonymous said...

In California they have found a fossil of the Saber Tooth tigers jaw on http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/carnivora/sabretooth.html

Unknown said...

The saber tooth tiger was a pretty cool animal. It had huge teeth kind of like vampires. haha They are roughly the size of an african lion. Avery aggressive species. sabertooths went extinct over 11,500 years ago. Sabertooths have been found in North and South America, as well as Europe and Asia.

Diggydog D

A.K.A your favorite student

Anonymous said...

The American Mastodon romed North America from at least 3.75 million years ago to 11000 years ago. They are members of the Proboscidea order. Mastodon teeth had blunt cones on their tips and probably used their teeth and their tuks to search for things like food on and around trees, plants and herbs. The fossils of mastodons are most commonly found, in the united states, and the finds are 4,000 years old to 11,000 years old.

Anonymous said...

There are four different types of Ground Sloths that were seen or around during the last ice age. These were called the Laurillard's , Shasta, Jefferson, and Harlan's Ground Sloth. As most people know, an ice age is a very long cold spell that can happen in an area for some reason. These sloths hang out on or by the ground as the Sloths today chill in the trees. Even know they had very nice flesh ripping devices also known as claws, they only eat plants and herbs. They did not have sharp teeth. These sloths were unfortunately never seen again after around the year -8000. Nobody really know why.

Some person (AKA: Mike)

Anonymous said...

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/ice_age_animals.html#
The ground sloth was around during the end of the ice age. It is related to the 2 and 3 towed sloth. Although they are related there are big differences, such as the size. The ground sloth is as big as and oxen when the 2 and 3 towed sloths are about the size of a large cat. Also the 2 and 3 towed sloths spend almost all of there time expect going to the bathroom in trees while the ground sloth obviously lives on the ground. The ground sloth has big claws but they are not for killing other animals they are for getting leaves out of trees. The proof of this animal is claws and bones that are about 10,000 years old.

Anonymous said...

the american mastodon romed North America from at least 3.75 million years ago to 11000 years ago. They are members of the Proboscidea order. Mastodon teeth had blunt cones on their tips and probably used their teeth and their tuks to search for things like food on and around trees, plants and herbs. The fossils of mastodons are most commonly found, in the united states, and the finds are 4,000 years old to 11,000 years old.

Anonymous said...

www.Wikipedia.com

Anonymous said...

Wolly Mamonth.
.one large fact about mammonths are that they are not related to mastdons.mammonths are not related to elephants.mammonths began in africa.then they moved into europe and asia.they travled north by way of the land bridge.beringia.they have existence of the mammonths by their fossil records.there are 3 theories of how the mammonths dissapeared.1.dramatic climate changed.2.the humans.3.plague.*Sincerly!
Immah Star.Chelsea

Anonymous said...

srry dan.
my source about my facts came from www.prin.edu.
**w/the help of google*

Anonymous said...

The first dire wolf skeleton was found in Indiana. The dire wolf was similar in size and mass to a large modern wolf. So it was about 5 feet long and usually weighed about 110 pounds

The dire wolf looked similar to the modern wolf although, there were several differences. The dire wolf had a bigger, broader head and shorter, sturdier legs than the modern wolf. The teeth of dire wolf were much larger than those of the modern wolf. that is some info about the dire wolf

Anonymous said...

Woolly mammoths lived in the ice age as giants. Having thick, shaggy fur to protect them from the blistering cold, these mammoths are in the same family as elephants, yet they have many differences. Woolly mammoths have extremely long tusks, sometimes being as large as 16 feet long! These creatures vanished from the earth about 12,000 years ago. Yet, they still live on. A frozen woolly mammoth was found, and even with some dna intact! Scientists are thinking about somehow cloning the animal once they find enough dna.

Unknown said...

Meet the dire wolf (Canis dirus), a mammal that became extinct in the last Ice Age. It was about 110 pounds on average and was appoxamitly 5 feet long, which is similar to the overall size, mass, and looks to today's modern large gray wolf. Although unlike todays large gray wolf the dire wolf had small physical differences like a bigger head, small legs that were sturdier, and teeth larger and more massive than it's modern relative. Even though this mammal is extinct we have evidence of it's existence such as a maxilla from a cave in Pulaski Country, Missouri. In the asphalt pits at Rancho La Brea, CA we have also found around several thousand different dire wolf skeletons. The dire wolf's extinction was around 11,500 years ago.

Anonymous said...

The Dire Wolf is an extinct North American species of wolf which was a great deal larger than the wolves now.For about 100,000 years it lived alongside its cousins, the Gray Wolves, although they are not directly linked.The Dire Wolf was much larger than the Gray Wolf. It was the largest living canine.

Anonymous said...

Giant ground sloths lived in large parts of central america and small parts near the great lakes. They have a large hip bone that allows them to stand on their hind legs and reach in to trees with their claws. They also have small bunt shaped teeth that lets them bite off of large branches and chew on scrubs.They are distant cousins of the two toed and three toed sloths but the giant ground sloth was as big ans an ox and can are as tall as a two storied building.