When modern world first originate search the Earth , they happen a land populated by a whole host of big cat species , many of which then lead extinct around 10,000 years ago . It turns out thatthe forces that force back many Ice Age felines to extinction are still in core today , and threaten the future of two big cats – the African lion and the Sunda clouded Panthera pardus .
It is thought thatone of the major factors lead to the decline and eventual extinction of seven ancient felines – four metal money of saber - toothed cats , the cave Leo the Lion , American lion , and American cheetah – is the loss of their prey base . The lack of food , partially force back by our ancestors , coupled with pressure from climate alteration is thought to have been the primary gadget driver of their demise .
researcher from the University of Sussex and Oxford ’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit decided to see if those same pressure sensation were being exerted on today ’s specie of fully grown cat . They found that of all modern species , two in particular gravel out . In a report publish inEcography , they calculated that if all the currently threatened and declining species of prey on which these predators rely were to go extinct , then just 39 percent of the African Leo the Lion ’s prey and 37 percent of the Sunda dapple leopard ’s prey would still live on .
“ Where prey species have , or are likely to become extinct , this poses a serious risk to the openhanded cat metal money which feed on them and we now lie with this is the continuation of an unhappy vogue which commence during the last Ice Age , ” says Centennial State - writer Dr Chris Sandom in astatement . “ We need to buck this Ice Age trend once and for all and to reinforce the pressing motive for regime to protect both big hombre species and their prey . ”
The investigator also model how well seven Ice Age big cats would do if they ’d survived the human conflict and climate variety that pushed them over the edge 10,000 years ago , and it ’s fair to say that it would n’t look expert . They found that if the bozo were still alive today , their prey base would only pull through across an norm of 25 percentage of their historic orbit , after the absolute majority have go extinct due to human insistence .
The discipline highlights how slight and mutualist ecosystems are , and the requirement not only to protect the larger , more charismatic species , but the creature on which they swear .
