Research suggests that early human hunters in the Americas primarily targeted the largest animals available, a practice that may have contributed to the extinction of megafauna such as mammoths and giant sloths. The study, published in Science Advances, examines the hunting strategies of Paleoindians, who lived more than 10,000 years ago and relied on weapons including spears and darts tipped with sharp stone points.

According to the researchers, the Paleoindians favored tracking and hunting large herbivores over smaller mammals, as these animals offered substantially more food—potentially thousands of kilograms of meat from a single kill. Besides providing nutrition, mammoths also supplied valuable materials; their hides could be used for clothing, while their bones and tusks were fashioned into tools and weapons.

Analysis of archaeological sites across North and South America reveals patterns indicating that these early humans were specialist hunters. The evidence includes butchering tools designed for large animals, the absence of implements suited to trapping smaller prey, and kill sites located at considerable distances from encampments. These findings suggest that small groups would follow large mammals over long distances, pursuing them until exhaustion forced the animals to collapse. This method aligns with hypotheses proposing evolutionary adaptations in humans—such as enhanced cooling through sweating and long Achilles tendons—that facilitated endurance hunting.

The study's authors contend that such specialized hunting practices could have accelerated the spread of Paleoindian populations across the continent, as hunters tracked prey into new regions. This contrasts with alternative views that early Americans were generalist hunters, taking advantage of a broad range of available animals rather than focusing on the largest species.

The timing of these hunting practices corresponds with the extinction events that saw many giant mammals disappear from the Americas approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. While climate change and other factors likely contributed, this research supports the interpretation that targeted predation by Paleoindians played a significant role in the decline of megafauna populations during that period.