Fossils from the Azraq Basin show that mammals shrank during the Pleistocene-Holocene climate change.

Fossils from the Azraq Basin show that mammals shrank during the Pleistocene-Holocene climate change.



Earth’s climate changed dramatically during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene, 130,000 to 7,000 years ago, when cold glacial cycles transitioned to the current warm interglacial. Such climatic changes had a significant impact on the ecosystem and the organisms that inhabit it, with many large mammals becoming extinct and others experiencing reductions in body size.