SOME FEATURES OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF MAMMAL FAUNAS OF THE PALEARCTIC AND NEARCTIC IN THE TERMINAL CENOZOIC

Abstract

Historical changes in the terminal Cenozoic are analyzed in those mammalian species of the Palearctic and Nearctic that, interacting with soil and vegetation, made possible the pasture ecosystems that were distributed from tropical Africa to some Arctic islands. In addition to large herbivores of pasture ecosystems and carnivores feeding on those herbivores, some of the largest rodents are included in the analysis; in the Nearctic, edentates are also discussed: the specifics of their biology made them readily accessible and therefore very desired game for primitive hunters.

Keywords

• large terrestrial herbivores
• carnivores
• edentates (armadillos and terrestrial sloths)
• extinction
• extermination
• primitive hunters
• terminal Pliocene
• Pleistocene
• Holocene