It has been reported that declining population of Earth’s largest creatures- “megafauna” like mammoths, mastodons and giant sloths has become a puzzle for researchers. Researchers have been considering since long that ancient humans could be the reason behind this extinction as they hunted the animals so much so that they went extinct.

Many theories say that climatic shifts and abrupt cold snaps may have contributed in the disappearance of the huge mammals. As per a new study,global warming could be the main reason behind the extinction of megafauna in the period of the last Ice Age approximately 60,000 years ago, also called the Pleistocene.

As per researchers, the study strengthens the thought that the rate of climate changes poses a greater risk to animals than the extent or severity of climate changes and this could have major effects in global warming today.

According to Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institutions Department of Global Ecology, “The real message here is that rapid changes are really tough, and [species] can get outrun by the climate changes”.

Researchers compared advanced analysis of ancient megafaunal DNA with radiocarbon dating with geological records of severe climate changes from ice cores and ancient sediments. They found that the gradual disappearance of the large mammals concurred with abrupt and fast warming events in the period of the late Pleistocene.

The study has been published in the journal Science and it is the first research that is related to connection between particular climate events and the extinctions of megafauna in a specific area.