Scientists Find Hints of a Hidden Mass Extinction 30 Million Years Ago

Up to 63% of African and Arabian mammal species may have vanished in a previously undetected die-off. View in browser

Image credits: Matt Borths, Duke University Lemur Center Scientists Find Hints of a Hidden Mass Extinction 30 Million Years Ago Up to 63% of African and Arabian mammal species may have vanished in a previously undetected die-off. Charles Q. Choi, Contributor October 18, 2021                                                                                                                                                                                  (Inside Science) -- Nearly two-thirds of mammal species in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula may have died off about 30 million years ago, a mass extinction that escaped detection for decades until now, a new study finds. During a time span known as the Eocene-Oligocene transition between 40 million and 34 million years ago, Earth's climate shifted dramatically, with the planet growing cooler, ice sheets expanding and sea levels dropping worldwide. During the Eocene, Antarctica was covered by lush forests, but afterward it became the icy continent seen today. Nearly two-thirds of the mammal species known in Europe and Asia at that time went extinct. Still, scientists previously thought African and Arabian mammals may have escaped this fate -- the area's mild climate and proximity to the equator could have served as a buffer from the worst of the cooling trend... Read more Copyright 2021 American Institute of Physics. Inside Science syndicates its articles, columns, blogs and videos to news organizations. To initiate syndication, or request permission to republish our content (on a one-time or continuing basis), please contact Inside Science at insidescience@aip.org. News organizations seeking permission to republish Inside Science content must fully credit Inside Science as the original source of the content, include the author byline, and republish the original, unaltered form (excluding content titles, headlines, or sub-headlines). The reprint format can be seen here. Copyright conditions and usage terms are subject to change at any time without consent or any type of prior notice. To unsubscribe from all future mailings from Inside Science please click here. To manage your email subscriptions please click here.

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