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Why Did Australopithecines Go Extinct?

Marcus Vance • • 7 min read
Why Did Australopithecines Go Extinct?

Perhaps the increased severity of droughts during glacial maxima caused the extinction of the robust australopithecines

robust australopithecines
They lived between approximately 2.6 and 0.6 million years ago (mya) from the end of the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene. Paranthropus is characterised by robust skulls, with a prominent gorilla-like sagittal crest along the midline–which suggest strong chewing muscles–and broad, herbivorous teeth used for grinding.
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. There is evidence that Australopithecus africanus persisted to about 2.3 Ma (Delson, 1988), but we do not now know for sure that it survived beyond the origin of Homo at about 2.4 Ma.

Why did Australopithecus get extinct?

All the australopithids went extinct by about 1 million years ago, about 3 million years after they first appeared. Habitats may have vanished as a result of global climate cooling -- or the australopithids may have been pressed to extinction by the growing populations of early humans.

When did Australopithecus afarensis become extinct?

A. afarensis disappears at around three million years ago, but the eastern African fossil record is poor following that time, so the precise date at which the species goes extinct is not known with certainty.

Marcus Vance
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Marcus Vance

Marcus Vance is a cybersecurity auditor and technology writer dedicated to educating the public about online safety, data privacy regulations, enterprise security, and emerging cyber threats.