#RMS_014

For decades, paleontologists have debated the sudden disappearance of megafauna—giant creatures like mammoths, ground sloths, and sabre-toothed cats—from the North American landscape approximately 13,000 years ago. One prominent theory, known as the 'Overkill Hypothesis,' suggests that the arrival of efficient human hunters spelled doom for these species, which possessed no evolutionary defense against such predation. Conversely, opponents argue that drastic climatic shifts at the end of the Ice Age were the true drivers of extinction, shrinking habitats and altering vegetation. However, recent analyses of kill sites and migration timing reveal a correlation that is difficult to dismiss. Although climate stress undoubtedly made these populations vulnerable, the weight of evidence increasingly implies that human hunting delivered the decisive blow, challenging the perception that early inhabitants had a negligible effect on the prehistoric ecosystem. Which of the following best represents the author's conclusion regarding the extinction of North American megafauna?