Megafauna pleistocênica do Brasil: revisão sobre os indícios de interação hominíneos-megafauna

Abstract

South America has suffered the greatest proportional loss of species diversity of Pleistocene megafauna, more than any other continent. Estimates indicate that about 80% of the genus of animals weighing more than 44 kg have been lost. In Brazil, even considering the large territorial extension of the country and the volume of paleontological works carried out with megafauna, there are few officially described records of interactions between megafauna and human populations, and even so, there are disagreements among researchers about the nature of the interactions described. In both Brazil and South America, there is little evidence of hunting, or the use of bones and teeth of Pleistocene megafauna to manufacture tools and utensils. In North America, however, studies that record these diverse interactions are not uncommon. In this review, only substantial records that suggest hunting or the use of animal material for the manufacture of tools were considered as interactions, excluding data that only evidence coexistence. The indications of interaction described are from Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Piauí, Pernambuco, Sergipe, and Bahia. The cause of the Pleistocene megafauna extinction still generates persistent debates. Some studies defend environmental causes, anthropogenic actions, direct or indirect, or a synergy between the two. Anthropogenic actions, to a greater or lesser extent, are pointed out by several studies as a factor of extinction. The development of human technology enabled Homo sapiens to expand and occupy the global territory. Such occupation, however, did not came without consequences for biodiversity. Numerous studies suggest that at the current rate of degradation, we are facing the so-called “sixth extinction”, the first to occur as a direct consequence of human actions and also to put our species at risk. Thus, paleontology and ecology can be used to unveil the past in order to develop predictive models of extinctions in the present and future.