Where the Elk and the Antelope Played Reflections on Bay Area
Megafauna One million years ago, large mammals dominated the Bay
Area landscape. Here a shortfaced bear chases two sabertoothed
cats away away from a dead camel, while teratorns soar overhead,
four-pronged antelopes and horses browse the grasses, Columbian
mammoths amble by, a coyote chases a ground squirrel, and a
raccoon observes it all from the safety of his perch in a live
oak tree. Illustration by Laura Cunningham. If you went back a
million years to a Bay Area ridgetop, you might think your time
machine was broken. You’d glimpse a bay through trees like
today’s, and a passing songbird or squirrel would resemble
living species. Roaring and snarling from the canyon below might
sound like a motocross. The illusion of modernity would fade,
however, as you heard something coming up the hill. Motorcycles
don’t breathe in deep, hoarse pants. When that something came
into view, it’s hard to say what you’d think. You might think it
was a bear, since i