BP. The woolly rhinoceros and mammoths died out between 16,000 and 11,500 years BP. The giant deer died out after 11,500 BP with the last pocket having survived until about 7,700 years BP in western Siberia. A pocket of mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 4,500 years BP. As some species became extinct, so too did their predators. Among the top predators, the sabre-toothed cat (Homotherium) died out 28,000 years BP, the cave lion 11,900 years BP, and the leopard in Europe died out 27,000 years BP. The Late Pleistocene was characterized by a series of severe and rapid climate oscillations with regional temperature changes of up to 16 °C, which has been correlated with megafaunal extinctions. There is no evidence of megafaunal extinctions at the height of the LGM, indicating that increasing cold and glaciation were not factors. Multiple events appear to also involve the rapid replacement of one species by one within the same genus, or one population by another within the same species, across a broad area. The ancestors of modern humans first appeared in East Africa 195,000 years ago. Some migrated out of Africa 60,000 years ago, with one group reaching Central Asia 50,000 years ago. From there they reached Europe, with human remains dated to 43,000-45,000 years BP discovered in Italy, Britain, and in the European Russian Arctic dated to 40,000 years ago. Another group left Central Asia and reached the lower Yana River, Siberia, well above the Arctic circle, 27,000 years ago. Remains of mammoth that had been hunted by humans 45,000 YBP have been found at Yenisei Bay in the central Siberian Arctic. Modern humans then made their way across the Bering land bridge and into North America between 20,000 and 11,000 years ago, after the Wisconsin glaciation had retreated but before the Bering land bridge became inundated by the sea. However, there remains no consensus among scholars on the timing of human migration into the Americas. In the Fertile crescent the first agriculture was developing 11,500 years ago. Ecological consequences of megafaunal extinctions Community and ecosystem changes Megafauna extinctions resulted in global changes to ecosystem structure and function. Extinction of megafauna broadly restructured ecological communities and species interactions. The extinction of megafauna affected mutualist species, resulting in co-extinctions. Evidence from fossil pollen indicates that megafaunal extinctions may have resulted in the development of novel plant communities, and altered fire regimes on a