In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

351 E Epilogue: Lessons from the Deep Past In this book, we have undertaken a journey through the wonders of the South American megafauna, not only because the fauna is intrinsically interesting in itself, but also to provide examples of how paleontology manages to overcome the paucity of remains—meager scraps, really—that have been left to us to interpret the history of past life. Through our adventurous and often tortuous path, we discussed the never-ending game of science, the ephemeral truths that shed transitory light on our vast ignorance; we paid homage to those giants on whose shoulders we, as a community rather than individually, stand (to paraphrase Newton and several other less famous scientists) by giving a short account of their lives and accomplishments; we set the geoecological stage on which our drama unfolded by summarizing the history of South America as a land mass and the life it had supported, giving special attention to one of the main biogeographic phenomena in vertebrate history, the interchange of mammalian faunas between North and South America that occurred with the emergence during the Pliocene of a land bridge that connected these continents after their long isolation. Within this framework, we presented the several and varied beasts that comprised this unique fauna, the most impressive assemblage of mammals ever gathered in terms of the number of giants living together, their morphological and ecological diversity, and the peculiar signature of their ancient heritage. But we would have fallen short of our goal had we simply presented what we have learned about them (as is typically the case in strictly nontechnical narratives) without having also provided an account of how we have arrived at our knowledge; and so we have endeavored to let nonpaleontologists in on our secrets. We have thus also explored the methods, traditional and new, sophisticated and elementary, that have allowed us and many of our colleagues to share the intellectual joys of venturing into the growing realm of knowledge on the habits of those superb animals and how the whole group of them worked together as an ecological unit. In doing so, we fare no better than the mythological ancient Greek heroes who tried to slay the Hydra, guardian of the underworld, by severing its many heads, one by one. But whereas the ancient heroes were dismayed at the results of their labors, with the mythical creature immediately replacing one severed head with two, we scientists are fortunate, rewarded as we are with pleasure and increased wonder for our efforts in slaying our ignorance and doubts: resolution (or not) of one problem enlightens us, but it also raises new questions, often revealing a depth of ignorance that we had not yet perceived. Such multiplication in the subjects and course of study brings renewed interest and motivation. This is our lucky fate, and one we hope (actually, know) will continue for us, our colleagues, and our intellectual descendants. Megafauna 352 However, the megafauna is no longer with us—and hence paleontology is the science that studies it and the reasons for its demise. Was it the rapid climatic and ecological changes wrought by the melting of the vast Pleistocene glaciers that caused their extinction? Were they swept away by as yet unknown diseases? Perhaps it was us, or at least our ancient kin, that hunted them to extinction. Were they cut down by an impact caused by an extraterrestrial body? Or was their fate sealed by an unknown or unthoughtof agent to be unveiled by future scientists? Whatever the reasons, the magnificent beasts are now all gone, and we invite our readers to think about the ethical issues inherent in the possibility that they might have been driven to extinction by us. This very much remains an entirely plausible reason, for the early New World people should not be idealized as some sort of bon sauvage. They must have had all the miseries and glories inherent to the human condition, nothing more and nothing less. They, however, had the excuse of ignorance. No emails, no cell phone calls arrived from other parts of that ancient world to warn the hunters that the fauna was locally extinct in many other places and that they would be wise to take good care of the remaining beasts and exploit them rationally. No ecological models were advanced to promote sustained development in the Pleistocene. Perhaps there is, after all, a marvelous world in which humans can coexist with wildlife, but we suggest that...

Share