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How the disappearance of mastodons still threatens native South American forests
Ten thousand years ago, mastodons vanished from South America. With them, an ecologically vital function also disappeared: the dispersal of seeds from large-fruited plants. A new study led by the University of O'Higgins, Chile, with key contributions from IPHES-CERCA, demonstrates for the first time—based on direct fossil evidence—that these extinct elephant relatives regularly consumed fruit and were essential allies of many tree species.
Ten thousand years ago, mastodons vanished from South America. With them, an ecologically vital function also disappeared: the dispersal of seeds from large-fruited plants. A new study led by the University of O'Higgins, Chile, with key contributions from IPHES-CERCA, demonstrates for the first time—based on direct fossil evidence—that these extinct elephant relatives regularly consumed fruit and were essential allies of many tree species.
