Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Large or relatively large animals of a particular region, period, or habitat.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The large
animals of a given region or time, considered as a group. - noun A treatise on such a group of large animals.
Etymologies
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Examples
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In a future where all megafauna is extinct and where technologically advanced humans are highly skilled at genetic engineering, future people 500 years hence genetically create ungulate-like grassland people, cold-weather tundra people, scansorial forest and woodland people, and gilled, seal-like aquatic people (Dixon 1990).
Archive 2006-10-01 Darren Naish 2006
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In a future where all megafauna is extinct and where technologically advanced humans are highly skilled at genetic engineering, future people 500 years hence genetically create ungulate-like grassland people, cold-weather tundra people, scansorial forest and woodland people, and gilled, seal-like aquatic people (Dixon 1990).
Giants, goblins, unihumans and all that Darren Naish 2006
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I'm also researching Mongolian megafauna, which is a little too much fun, as it justifies things like watching Walking with Beasts and so forth.
there's more dark meat on a hamster kylecassidy 2009
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Until twenty thousand years ago, giant mammals, the so-called megafauna, were found in the Cerrado.
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Until the oversized beasts known as megafauna went extinct, our ancestors had to learn to survive on a landscape populated with creatures like sabre-toothed tigers, oversized eagles, and plodding giant sloths.
Monster Movie 2004
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SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A species of giant ancient turtle outlived most of the outsized, extinct animals known as megafauna -- until humans came along, Australian researchers say.
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But about 13,000 years ago, not long after the first humans arrived in the New World, all but a few of these remarkable creatures--collectively known as megafauna--had vanished.
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Minnesota and Wisconsin were populated by a variety of very large animals called megafauna which lived in the cold climate on the margins of the glacial ice.
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The boys 'discoveries help illustrate and remind people of the large animals, known as megafauna, that used to live in Colorado during the Ice Age.
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And in Canada designer Amy Nugent has taken things a step further, "harvesting" highway hits from bears and moose (what you might call megafauna) through to porcupines to fashion a celebrated jewellery range (www. roadquill.ca) that includes bracelets and tie slides.
Latest Articles 2009
ragnvaeig commented on the word megafauna
Large animals of a particular period, frequently referring to the Pleistocene era.
January 8, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word megafauna
YESSS!! Examples are here, and on other related lists.
It's such a cool word.
January 8, 2009
yarb commented on the word megafauna
My daughter got two realistic model wooly mammoths (adult and juvenile) and a glyptodon for Christmas. I was sort of hoping she wouldn't like the adult mammoth, so that I could keep it on my desk at work.
January 8, 2009
reesetee commented on the word megafauna
Maybe you can arrange for visiting rights.
January 8, 2009