Cultural Depictions
The Pleistocene megafauna and their abruptly recent extinctions have captured a large portion of the human imagination, as well as human culture. Their immense size and their nature as fantastic versions of more familiar creatures (giant short-faced kangaroos, dwarf hippos, giant beavers, etc.) make them especially engaging and appealing for wide audiences. Recently, films (10,000 BC, Ice Age) and videogames (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) have featured megafauna like mammoths and sabertooths, while books (Once and Future Giants) and comics (Zoostalgia) have attempted to celebrate these creatures.
Anthropologists also suggest that some megafauna, like Eurasia's Elasmotherium, Australia's Diprotodon, and the woolly mammoth, may have historically endured in legends of mythical beasts.
Read more about this topic: Pleistocene Megafauna
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