Many researchers believe that humans were primarily responsible for the extinction of megafauna through hunting and expansion. However, this is only true for a few species; in most cases, human activity merely delivered the final blow to species that were already on the brink of extinction. It is a fact that there were periods during the Ice Age when the numbers of many species declined, but the species themselves ultimately survived. As a new factor, humans were present in all cases of extinction at the end of the Ice Age, and they probably played a role, yet not a main one, in the extinction of many species. However, it should also be noted that on continents where humans had long coexisted with fauna (Africa, Asia), extinction was not as widespread as in places where humans appeared as a new member of the fauna.
This is also indicated by the fact that the extinction of most megafauna species did not occur simultaneously on different continents, but roughly at the same time that humans appeared and spread.
The late Pleistocene extinction wave took place approximately 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, but at different times on different continents within the given time frame:

• In Australia, approximately 40,000 years ago;
• in Europe around 12,000 years ago;
• in America around 11,000 years ago;
• in Madagascar around 1,500 years ago;
• in New Zealand around 800 years ago.