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

For a profitless private company eyeing the public markets for the first time, OpenAI this week was remarkably cavalier toward a charismatic megafauna of the Hollywood ecosystem, Disney.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

Costing A$136,000, the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture's designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was "massive, lumbering and fascinating".

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

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 • Jan. 26, 2026

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 • May 15, 2025

Hence the megafauna probably became extinct soon after humans reached Australia.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond