Cold Periods and Mass Extinctions

From comparing the time periods of relatively recent extinction events with climate records, a pattern emerges.

The extinction of the Elephant Bird happened during the Maunder Minimum, often referred to as the little ice age. The extinction of the Moa and the Haast Eagle correspond to the cold period that wiped out the Viking settlements on Greenland and Newfound Land.

The remaining Mammoths and Irish Elk disappeared during the grand interglacial cold period 4000 to 5000 years ago, and the end of the last glacial period saw the disappearance of a large number of large animals, such as the Saber Tooth Tiger, the Giant Sloth and the Large Woolly Mammoths.

What these periods have in common, apart from being cold, is that Earth was subject to more cosmic radiation.

Now that we are entering a new period of low solar activity and therefore increased cosmic radiation, large animals may again be at risk. Will we soon see the demise of the African Elephant and the Andean Condor?

Solar cycle prediction

By David Hathaway, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center - http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml, Public Domain, Link