That said, the relative intactness of African megafauna, which spent the most time in the company of humans, has been cited as evidence against the overkill hypothesis. But it might be the exception that proves the rule. Slowly coevolving with people over 2 million years as hominids became ever more adept at wielding technology and strategy in pursuit of prey, these animals, alone among their global counterparts, had the requisite evolutionary time and harrowing experience to learn their “salutary dread of man.” Still, even Africa lost 21 percent of its megafauna, with larger animals getting
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