that the lack of evidence should not rule out human-megafauna interactions. Insular Many islands had a unique megafauna that became extinct upon the arrival of humans more recently (over the last few millennia and continuing into recent centuries). These included dwarf woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, St. Paul Island and the Channel Islands of California; giant birds in New Zealand such as the moas and Hieraaetus moorei (a giant eagle); numerous species in Madagascar: giant ground-dwelling lemurs, including Megaladapis, Palaeopropithecus and the gorilla-sized Archaeoindris, three species of hippopotamuses, two species of giant tortoises, the Voay-crocodile and the giant bird Aepyornis; five species of giant tortoises from the Mascarenes; a dwarf Stegodon on Flores and a number of other islands; land turtles and crocodiles in New Caledonia; giant flightless owls and dwarf ground sloths in the Caribbean; giant flightless geese and moa-nalo (giant flightless ducks) in Hawaii; and dwarf elephants and dwarf hippos from the Mediterranean islands. The Canary Islands were also inhabited by an endemic megafauna which are now extinct: giant lizards (Gallotia goliath), giant rats (Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys tamarani) and giant tortoises (Geochelone burchardi and Geochelone vulcanica), among others. On the California Channel Islands, it is unclear whether humans caused the extinction of pygmy mammoths (Mammuthus exilis), the only species of megafauna which inhabited the area. Mammoth populations were in decline on the Channel Islands at the time of human arrival. See also Holocene extinction Megafauna Quaternary extinction event Pleistocene rewilding Younger Dryas impact hypothesis References External links Pleistocene extinctions