Alex Uchytel / Wikimedia CommonsArtistic representation of Equus neogeus, an extinct South American equine speciesAlex Uchytel / Wikimedia Commons
Rainfall changes may have played a decisive role in the extinction of megafauna that lived in open environments in what is now Northeast Brazil by stimulating the formation of an unfavorable environment and reducing the food supply. Célia Machado, a biologist from the State University of Paraíba (UEPB), examined 292 fossil records from four groups of herbivorous mammals that adapted to live in open environments over the last 21,000 years: Equus neogeus, an equine species; and Pampatherium humboldtii, Glyptodon clavipes, and Panochthus spp., all distant relatives of the armadillo. Machado and her colleagues found that areas of open vegetation grew or shrank in response to climate changes. In contrast, the Andean and Chaco-Pampas regions (the latter of which covers southern South America, including the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul), experienced stable precipitation patterns, which preserved the environment. In these regions, there may have been other factors behind the extinction of megafauna (Quaternary Research, January).
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