Climate Change Drove Neanderthals to Cannibalism, New Research Suggests

Neanderthals are famous for having lived through the last major ice age, yet for a period of around 14,000 years they had to endure the effects of a naturally occurring global warming cycle. Struggling to adapt to the changing conditions, the Neanderthals turned to cannibalism in desperation, according to a provocative and timely new study.

gizmodo.com|George Dvorsky

New research published this week in the Journal of Archaeological Science suggests the crushing impact of the Last Interglacial Period, also known as the Eemian period, forced Neanderthals into cannibalism. This era of prehistory, between 128,000 to 114,000 years ago, saw global temperatures rise to about 2 degrees Celsius higher that the average global temperature in the 20th century. 

The archaeologists who authored the new study, Alban Defleur and Emmanuel Desclaux from French National Center for Scientific Research, presented new evidence showing how the sharp spike in temperature reshaped the Eurasian environment, and by consequence, the animals upon which the Neanderthals depended.

Scientists already knew that the Neanderthals of the Baume Moula-Guercy practiced cannibalism, but the link to climate change is new. On that note, the authors provided an ecological snapshot of Eemian Europe, highlighting the changing environmental conditions and the types of food available to the Neanderthals. Where grasslands once dominated the landscape, temperate forests crept in. Large prey animals such as mammoths, giant deer, straight-tusked elephants, and narrow-nosed rhinos were replaced by rodents, porcupines, snakes, and reptiles (including tortoises), many of which migrated north up from the Mediterranean region.

Neanderthals, she speculated, could have practiced cannibalism as a way to survive prolonged periods of food insecurity or desperation.

Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds

The huge loss is a tragedy in itself but also threatens the survival of civilisation, say the world’s leading scientists

www.theguardian.com|Damian Carrington

Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.

The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.

“We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff. If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done.”

“Nature contributes to human wellbeing culturally and spiritually, as well as through the critical production of food, clean water, and energy, and through regulating the Earth’s climate, pollution, pollination and floods,”

The biggest cause of wildlife losses is the destruction of natural habitats, much of it to create farmland. Three-quarters of all land on Earth is now significantly affected by human activities. Killing for food is the next biggest cause – 300 mammal species are being eaten into extinction – while the oceans are massively overfished, with more than half now being industrially fished.

So many animals are dying, scientists believe Earth has entered a sixth mass extinction

"There are examples of species all over the world that are essentially the walking dead."

qz.com|Cassie Werber

We’ve long known that human actions—cutting down forests, building cities and using up natural resources—puts animals in danger, and can even drive them out of existence. Now, a new study has found that vertebrates—or creatures with a backbone—are dying much, much faster than they should be.

A group of researches from Mexico and the US wanted to compare the rate of extinctions in the last century to what is known as the “background rate”—the rate at which species have died off in previous centuries. They found that vertebrates, or animals with a backbone, were dying at a rate 114 times faster than the overall background rate for vertebrates, based on a conservative estimate.

Using the background rate as a guide, researchers said that only nine vertebrate extinctions should have occurred since 1900. In fact, 477 vertebrates became extinct during that time period, including 69 mammal species, 80 bird species, 24 reptiles, 146 amphibians, and 158 fish.

“These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way,” the paper states.

Klaatu: Do you speak for the entire human race?

Regina Jackson: I speak for the President of the United States. Now, please; tell me why have you come to our planet.

Klaatu: *Your* planet.

Regina Jackson: Yes; this is our planet.

Klaatu: No, it is not.

Helen Benson: I need to know what's happening.

Klaatu: This planet is dying. The human race is killing it.

Helen Benson: So you've come here to help us.

Klaatu: No, *I* didn't.

Helen Benson: You said you came to save us.

Klaatu: I said I came to save the Earth.

Helen Benson: You came to save the Earth... from us. You came to save the Earth *from* us.

Klaatu: We can't risk the survival of this planet for the sake of one species. 

Helen Benson: What are you saying?

Klaatu: If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives. There are only a handful of planets in the cosmos that are capable of supporting complex life...

Helen Benson: You can't do this.

Klaatu: ...this one can't be allowed to perish.

Helen Benson: We can change. We can still turn things around.

Klaatu: We've watched, we've waited and hoped that you *would* change.

Helen Benson: Please...

Klaatu: It's reached the tipping point. We have to act. 

Helen Benson: Please...

Klaatu: We'll undo the damage you've done and give the Earth a chance to begin again.

Helen Benson: Don't do this. Please, we can change. We can change.

Klaatu: The decision is made. The process has begun.

Professor Barnhardt: There must be alternatives. You must have some technology that could solve our problem.

Klaatu: Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. You lack the will to change.

Professor Barnhardt: Then help us change.

Klaatu: I cannot change your nature. You treat the world as you treat each other.

Professor Barnhardt: But every civilization reaches a crisis point eventually.

Klaatu: Most of them don't make it.

Professor Barnhardt: Yours did. How?

Klaatu: Our sun was dying. We had to evolve in order to survive.

Professor Barnhardt: So it was only when your world was threated with destruction that you became what you are now.

Klaatu: Yes.

Professor Barnhardt: Well that's where we are. You say we're on the brink of destruction and you're right. But it's only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment. Don't take it from us, we are close to an answer.