Animals of the Holocene Epoch

Humans

• Relieved of the ice age, humans established civilizations, developed agriculture and lost the need to roam in search of food. Such human activities have had a profound impact on animals and the Earth, since humans have the unique ability to transform and disrupt the Earth's very geology and geophysical processes. Climate change, for instance, means also a shrinking polar bear habitat. Noisy urban environments have led songbirds to change their songs. Hunters' shooting for animal trophies has meant an increase in elephants that develop without tusks. Bighorn sheep are likewise showing a reduction in the size of their horns. Indeed, man's impact is so ubiquitous that some call the Holocene epoch the Anthropogene, which means "Age of Man."

Extinctions

• Human success has cost other Holocene animals. Indeed so many other species have disappeared that the situation is formally called the Holocene Extinction, and specifically refers to the ongoing, large-scale negative impact of humans. For instance, the maritime explorations that led to European exploration of Pacific islands and North and South America led to extinctions, including the dodo bird. Other extinct animals of the Holocene include moas, passenger pigeons, the giant ground sloths of the Caribbean and the small hippos of Madagascar. E.O. Wilson of Harvard as cited in the "New York Times" estimates that 50 percent of all species will be extinct by 2100.

Domestication

• This epoch has seen humans domesticating certain other Holocene animals, including sheep, goats, cows, pigs, donkeys and horses. Despite Earth's many animals, relatively few have been domesticated -- only 14 of the 148 species that weigh at least 45 kilograms (100 pounds), points out Jared Diamond in the international science journal "nature". To be domesticated, he says, animals must qualify. The zebra, for instance, is too mean to domesticate; anteaters too hard to supply with food, Diamond explains.

Distribution

• Holocene animals can be found throughout the world, even in extreme conditions. Human activities have introduced non-native species to some areas while native species have, in some cases, been driven out. The so-called "rewilding" movement seeks to reintroduce native species to appropriate habitats in an effort to restore ecological balance and biodiversity. Recently, some scientists are calling for rewilding some areas with animals related to extinct animals of the Pleistocene, which would lead to elephants in the United States. Asian elephants are related to wooly mammoths more closely than they are to African elephants. Wooly mammoths once roamed North America.