Humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands about 7,000 years ago, and within 3,000 years most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests of the Kaliko Islands were extinct.

TOEFL, IELTS, Personal Statement and CV Proofreading Services. GRE Writing Humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands about 7,000 years ago, and within 3,000 years most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests of the Kaliko Islands were extinct.

  • bluocean
    University: CAS
    Nationality: PRC
    August 16, 2022 at 3:04 pm

    According to the argument, humans’ excessive hunting caused the extinction of various mammal species since simple tools used for hunting have been uncovered. The author cites that most of the large mammal species were extinct after humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands. However, in the line of reasoning, the auhtor has numbers of unreasonable logic, the explanation in the end may be illegitimate, and there may be alternative explanations that also make sense.

    The arguer asserts that most of the large mammal species in the islands were extinct within 3,000 years after humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands. But the two events are completely independent events. Possibly, early humans might have brought invasive species to the islands’ ecosystem, and these invasive species gradually encroached and damaged the necessary habitats. It is more likely that the genes of these mammal species have mutated, which causes the evolution of them not being adapted to natural selection. Also, perhaps the large mammals have been unable to adapt to the climate changes or environmental changes, which significantly impacted on their available resources, such as supply of food or water. Unless he excludes these alternative explanations, the prerequisite of the reasoning is obviously irrational.

    Moreover, the author claims that early humans relied on fishing and hunting these mammals for foods because of the existence of numerous bone sites. But the two events might do not have correlation, and there were other explanations for the fish bones. Possibly, those fish bones may have been discarded by other mammals, and these mammals usually preyed on fish on large numbers. It is more likely that early humans only fished for food but did not hunt animals for eating. Also, perhaps early humans indeed depended on fishing and hunting animals for foods, but they only hunted small animals and were unable to kill these large mammals. If he has given the explanations above, the argument that early humans contacted to hunt these mammals is unreasonable.

    The arguer points out that humans’ excessive hunting caused the extinction of various mammal species since simple hunting tools have been discovered. However, the two events do not necessarily have cause-effect relation. Possibly, that stone knives were manufactured for the use for decoration, so they are not utilized to kill animals during hunting. It is more likely that those stone knives were used for cutting or carving functions, such as cutting ropes, and thus they are not utilized for hunting. Also, perhaps stone knives are only used for hunting small animals, e.g. rabbits, since they are too small and short to fight against large mammals, not to mention kill them. Without considering these probable reasons, the result is insensible that the islands’ mammal species can be killed by the stone knives.

    To sum up, the line of reasoning suffers a number of unreasonable logic, and these limitations render the explanation barely legitimate.