Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-5-2025
Journal / Book Title
Cambridge Prisms Extinction
Abstract
Around 1000 years ago, Madagascar experienced the collapse of populations of large vertebrates that ultimately resulted in many species going extinct. The factors that led to this collapse appear to have differed regionally, but in some ways, key processes were similar across the island. This review evaluates four hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the loss of large vertebrates on Madagascar: Overkill, aridification, synergy, and subsistence shift. We explore regional differences in the paths to extinction and the significance of a prolonged extinction window across the island. The data suggest that people who arrived early and depended on hunting, fishing, and foraging had little effect on Madagascar's large endemic vertebrates. Megafaunal decline was triggered initially by aridification in the driest bioclimatic zone, and by the arrival of farmers and herders in the wetter bioclimatic zones. Ultimately, it was the expansion of agropastoralism across both wet and dry regions that drove large endemic vertebrates to extinction everywhere.
DOI
10.1017/ext.2024.19
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Godfrey, Laurie R.; Klukkert, Zachary S.; Crowley, Brooke E.; Dawson, Robin R.; Faina, Peterson; Freed, Benjamin Z.; Hekkala, Evon; Borgerson, Cortni; Rasolonjatovo, Harimanjaka A.M.; Wright, Patricia C.; and Burns, Stephen J., "Patterns of late Holocene and historical extinctions on Madagascar" (2025). Department of Anthropology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 85.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/anthropology-facpubs/85
Rights
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence.
Published Citation
Godfrey, L. R., Klukkert, Z. S., Crowley, B. E., Dawson, R. R., Faina, P., Freed, B. Z., … Burns, S. J. (2025). Patterns of late Holocene and historical extinctions on Madagascar. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction, 3, e9. doi:10.1017/ext.2024.19