Man-made climate change ‘has happened before’
Is history repeating itself? A new exhibit looks 12,000 years into the past to warn us about a future of climate
catastrophe.
If you think lions and tigers are scary, you should see the animals of the Ice Age. There were bears that towered at ten feet tall, gigantic sloths the weight of cars and huge cats with sabre teeth.
But by the end of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago, all of them had gone extinct. There are no more giant sloths and giant beavers roaming the planet. And today the supersize armadillo is just a distant memory. Scientists used to think that this was because of changes in the climate or an exploding comet, but recently they have started to blame humans.
According to their research, the destruction of these animals and their habitats was caused by wildfires and hunting by ancient humans, as well as by global warming.
A new exhibition by an Ice Age fossil museum is trying to show us the similarities between then and now. Our current climate crisis has also seen rising global temperatures, wildfires and overhunting.
What our ancestors did all those centuries ago, now we are doing on an even bigger scale.
“What is scary is that we have warmed the planet in the past 100 years by almost as much as in these Ice Age studies,” said one scientist.
Build the Change Challenge
The Ice Age had a range of unbelievable and scary creatures. In this activity, you will design a prehistoric animal from the Ice Age.
Step 1: Think about your design. Ask your teacher to show you some pictures of the weirdest and
wackiest Ice Age animals. Notice how they were adapted to live and hunt in such cold conditions. Could the animal you design live today?
Step 2: Now, create your design! You could draw a picture of it, or if you have time, use craft materials
and LEGO bricks to make a real-life version of your cold-loving creature.
See what other builders made
