I am always amazed at the level of wide ranging education here, so I am throwing out a question, and if anybody can answer it please do.
what lived on the pampas in the period after early humans came to south america, but before europeans did?
the pampas are a huge, rich grassfield, that for the past 200 years have fed millions of cattle that have then fed millions of people. the potential was there for grazing animals to utilize that resource.
as far as I can see, around the time of the early humans hitting the region, the animals that fed off the pampas died off.
while there were large herebavores living at higher elevation, none seemed to have moved to the pampas, leaving them, as far as I can see, more or less empty.
anyway - I can't seem to find anything that addresses this question. I find it hard to believe that in 20,000 years or so, at the very least 10,000 years, nothing adapted to eat all that grass.
what lived on the pampas in the period after early humans came to south america, but before europeans did?
the pampas are a huge, rich grassfield, that for the past 200 years have fed millions of cattle that have then fed millions of people. the potential was there for grazing animals to utilize that resource.
as far as I can see, around the time of the early humans hitting the region, the animals that fed off the pampas died off.
while there were large herebavores living at higher elevation, none seemed to have moved to the pampas, leaving them, as far as I can see, more or less empty.
anyway - I can't seem to find anything that addresses this question. I find it hard to believe that in 20,000 years or so, at the very least 10,000 years, nothing adapted to eat all that grass.
