Kot: Fossil records from two million years ago show evidence of jaguars

Evidence: 59 • authority: 88

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

The natural history of Earth concerns the development of planet Earth from its formation to the present day. Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to the understanding of the main events of Earth's past, characterized by constant geological change and biological evolution. The geological time scale (GTS), as defined by international convention, depicts the large spans of time from the beginning of Earth to the present, and its divisions chronicle some definitive events of Earth history. Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago, approximately one-third the age of the universe, by accretion from the solar nebula. Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphe…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

Arctotherium ("bear beast") is an extinct genus of short-faced bears endemic to Central and South America (Neotropics) from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. Arctotherium migrated from North America to South America during the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. The earliest recovered remains of Arctotherium are from Central America and northern South America, with specimens referred to Arctotherium c.f. wingei and Arctotherium sp. from the Plio-Pleistocene boundary of Venezuela, and Arctotherium sp. from the Early Pleistocene of El Salvador, dated to between 3Ma and 1.8Ma. Arctotherium reappears later as…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 80

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

Smilodon is a genus of extinct felids. It is one of the best-known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats, belonging to the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae, with an estimated date of divergence from the ancestor of living cats around 20 million years ago. Smilodon was one of the last surviving machairodonts alongside Homotherium. Smilodon lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene to early Holocene epoch (2.5 mya – at latest 8,200 years ago). The genus was named in 1842 based on fossils from Brazil; the generic name means 'scalpel' or 'two-edged knife' combined wit…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 80

Evidence: 49 • authority: 92

The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene.. Across the last ~50,000 years (the late Quaternary) terrestrial vertebrate faunas have experienced severe losses of large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring in the Late Pleistocene and Early to Middle Holocene. Debate on the causes has been ongoing for over 200 years, intensifying from the 1960s onward. Here, we outline criteria that any causal hypothesis needs to account for. Importantly, this extinction event is unique relative to other Cenozoic (the last 66 million years) extinctions in its strong size bias. For example, on…