A Bit of Scientific Work

I've been busy - taking care of business mostly, but I have gotten a couple bits of research work done. A few weeks ago I typed up a research projects summaries list to get an idea about what projects I have lined up so far - but more details regarding them later. This past week I just added a couple that were initially forgotten. As for the official project I mentioned last time, I came across an article from back in December 2006 that seem to support my findings so far. Apparently, it has been determined that humans were the primary cause of megafauna extinctions in Australia at the end of that last ice age. The evidence was found in the Naracoorte Caves in South Australia. The species found were capable of surviving in various temperatures and clearly went extinct concurrent with the arrival of humans. One scientist mentioned that it is unlikely that the animals went extinct due to the overhunting because once the population got small enough the hunters would not have expended the energy and resources to hunt down the last remaining individuals. I must disagree with his assessment. Yes, the population would obviously have gotten down to such a small number of individuals to make hunting impractical. However, once a population gets to such a minimal number of individuals it is no longer viable and would likely go extinct as a matter of course. Any ecologist would know this. I am very surprised by his comment - though it may have been taken out of context for the article - which is entirely possible since a well known news organization ran the story. The one problem I have with the Overkill Hypothesis already accepted is that it limits the overhunting to only the Americas. This makes no sense because the more proof in a scientific investigation, the better. The more continents and species observed and the more evidence gathered - the easier to prove the case one way or the other. Why do we limit our research in this way?!