A new study reveals that human impacts in an environment made fire-prone by climate change and herbivore loss led to large mammals vanishing from southern California.
In California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.
Nearly a century ago, Hildegarde Howard, an accomplished avian paleontologist, began her career at the museums. She ultimately reached one of the most elevated perches—Curator of Science.
