megafauna

noun

mega·​fau·​na ˈme-gə-ˌfȯ-nə How to pronounce megafauna (audio)
-ˌfä-
1
: animals (such as bears, bison, or mammoths) of particularly large size
2
: fauna consisting of individuals large enough to be visible to the naked eye
megafaunal adjective

Examples of megafauna in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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But dire wolves were real creatures that once roamed across North and South America during the Pleistocene epoch, standing taller than modern gray wolves with more robust builds and greater jaw strength, perfectly evolved to hunt the megafauna of the Ice Age. Nia Bowers, USA Today, 24 May 2025 Official records such as local gazettes and county chronicles didn’t have any information about the porpoises — only terrestrial megafauna like tigers and elephants, species that have frequent conflict with humans. Marlowe Starling, CNN Money, 14 May 2025 Gut contents and other fossil evidence make clear that Mammut was only a danger to plants, however, and went extinct along with many other forms of megafauna around 11,000 years ago. Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2025 Located in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, this lavish property sits on the edge of India’s Bandhavgarh National Park, a renowned preserve that’s brimming with all sorts of majestic megafauna. Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for megafauna

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of megafauna was in 1927

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Cite this Entry

“Megafauna.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/megafauna. Accessed 28 May. 2025.

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