megafauna

American  

[meg-uh-faw-nuh] / ˈmɛg əˌfɔ nə /

noun

1. Zoology. large or giant animals, especially of a given area. Because megafauna tend to have long lives and slow population growth and recovery rates, many such species, as elephants and whales, are particularly vulnerable to overexploitation by humans.

2. Ecology. animals of a given area that can be seen with the unaided eye.

3. Classical Mythology. large or giant mythical creatures, often resembling a familiar animal, as a hellhound, or a composite of different animals, as a griffin.

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megafauna British  

/ ˈmɛɡəˌfɔːnə /

noun

1. the component of the fauna of a region or period that comprises the larger terrestrial animals

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megafauna Scientific  

/ mĕg′ə-fô′nə /

1. Large or relatively large animals of a particular place or time period. Saber-toothed tigers and mastodons belong to the extinct megafauna of the Oligocene and Pleistocene Epochs.

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Etymology

Origin of megafauna

First recorded in 1925–30; mega- + fauna

Example Sentences

This time they include "megafauna" specialist Sekar, researching whales and dolphins, and genetics and molecular biotechnology expert Husna Nugrahapraja, who is "bioprospecting" compounds for new medicines.

From Barron's

The loss of Ice Age megafauna and the disappearance of Clovis tools and artifacts occurred around the same time as the onset of the Younger Dryas.

From Science Daily

"Such studies could fundamentally reshape our understanding of extinct megafauna as well as other species, revealing the many hidden layers of biology that have remained frozen in time until now," finishes Emilio Mármol.

From Science Daily

While the more flexible grey wolf is still around today, its large, dire cousin died out some 12,900 years ago, probably as a result of mass extinctions of the megafauna to which it was so well adapted.

From Salon

It had evolved to specialize in hunting megafauna — oversized, cold-tolerant, plant-eating mammals like mammoths and giant sloths and saber-toothed tigers.

From Salon