Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Large or relatively large animals of a particular region, period, or habitat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The large animals of a given region or time, considered as a group.
  • noun A treatise on such a group of large animals.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In a future where all megafauna is extinct and where technologically advanced humans are highly skilled at genetic engineering, future people 500 years hence genetically create ungulate-like grassland people, cold-weather tundra people, scansorial forest and woodland people, and gilled, seal-like aquatic people (Dixon 1990).

    Archive 2006-10-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • In a future where all megafauna is extinct and where technologically advanced humans are highly skilled at genetic engineering, future people 500 years hence genetically create ungulate-like grassland people, cold-weather tundra people, scansorial forest and woodland people, and gilled, seal-like aquatic people (Dixon 1990).

    Giants, goblins, unihumans and all that Darren Naish 2006

  • I'm also researching Mongolian megafauna, which is a little too much fun, as it justifies things like watching Walking with Beasts and so forth.

    there's more dark meat on a hamster kylecassidy 2009

  • Until twenty thousand years ago, giant mammals, the so-called megafauna, were found in the Cerrado.

    Biological diversity in the Cerrado 2008

  • Until the oversized beasts known as megafauna went extinct, our ancestors had to learn to survive on a landscape populated with creatures like sabre-toothed tigers, oversized eagles, and plodding giant sloths.

    Monster Movie 2004

  • SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A species of giant ancient turtle outlived most of the outsized, extinct animals known as megafauna -- until humans came along, Australian researchers say.

    Latest News - UPI.com 2010

  • But about 13,000 years ago, not long after the first humans arrived in the New World, all but a few of these remarkable creatures--collectively known as megafauna--had vanished.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2010

  • Minnesota and Wisconsin were populated by a variety of very large animals called megafauna which lived in the cold climate on the margins of the glacial ice.

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories 2009

  • The boys 'discoveries help illustrate and remind people of the large animals, known as megafauna, that used to live in Colorado during the Ice Age.

    Aspen Times - Top Stories 2009

  • And in Canada designer Amy Nugent has taken things a step further, "harvesting" highway hits from bears and moose (what you might call megafauna) through to porcupines to fashion a celebrated jewellery range (www. roadquill.ca) that includes bracelets and tie slides.

    Latest Articles 2009

Comments

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  • Large animals of a particular period, frequently referring to the Pleistocene era.

    January 8, 2009

  • YESSS!! Examples are here, and on other related lists.

    It's such a cool word.

    January 8, 2009

  • My daughter got two realistic model wooly mammoths (adult and juvenile) and a glyptodon for Christmas. I was sort of hoping she wouldn't like the adult mammoth, so that I could keep it on my desk at work.

    January 8, 2009

  • Maybe you can arrange for visiting rights.

    January 8, 2009