Hello Everyone, I’d like to get your opinion on the following Argument essay I wrote. Where do you think I fell short and how can I strengthen my evidence? Thanks in advance for any help.
[b][color=blue]Prompt:
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. Previous archaeological findings have suggested that early humans generally relied on both fishing and hunting for food; since archaeologists have discovered numerous sites in the Kaliko Islands where the bones of fish were discarded, it is likely that the humans also hunted the mammals. Furthermore, researchers have uncovered simple tools, such as stone knives, that could be used for hunting. The only clear explanation is that humans caused the extinction of the various mammal species through excessive hunting.
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.[/b]
[color=black]While it is true, according to archeaological findings, that large mammals went extinct on the Kaliko islands shortly after the arrival of humans, it is not entirely logically convincing that excessive hunting by these humans was the main cause of their extinction. Other activities pertaining to living such as fishing or shelter building and events outside of the humans’ control could have been responsible for this apparent disappearance of large mammals.
Consider for example that archeaologists have found evidence that the humans on the Kaliko Islands fished for food, in the form of piles of fish bones. However, who is to say that these piles of bones were exclusively the result of human activity. It is possible that the large mammals also ate fish on the Kaliko islands and discarded their bones through out the islands. If humans began fishing as well, there would have been competition between the two species. It is possible that humans began to consume more and more fish, which caused the island mammals to die out because they were no longer able to access a critical food source. Although it is possible that humans hunted the mammals, it is not mentioned that any sites with large deposits of mammal bones was found. This theory agrees with the fact that mammals died a few thousand years after the humans arrived, since such extinction would not be immediate, and tools found (like knives) could have been used to clean and prepare fish. However, food is not the only thing that humans could have struggled on the island for.
Humans on the Kaliko islands also needed protection from the elements and primitive forms of shelter could have used tree leaves, twigs and branches. As humans cut down trees in the forests to make their shelters, they would have been taking away habitats from the large mammals. A shrinking forest habitat would have increased competition for living space, food sources and potential mates among the mammals, until there were no resources left in the environment to support a population of large animals. An extinction from loss of habitat would also have been gradual and required the use of primitive cutting tools.
Yet another possibility that explains the disappearance of the large mammals is that they simply moved to another location. If humans are capable of arriving on the Kaliko islands, then surely animals are also capable of migrating to other nearby land masses. As the humans consumed the resources of the island, the need to survive could have potentially drove the large mammals to other areas where food and shelter were available to them. This is potentially an explanation of why sites with fish bones were found, but not with mammal bones.
In conclusion, while it is possible that the large mammals of the Kaliko islands went extinct due to excessive hunting by human arrivals, there are still many other potential reasons they could have disappeared from the Island including losing their food sources and habitats. And while they are no longer on the Kaliko islands, it is possible that they didn’t die off but simply moved to another area where resources were more readily available, just as the humans did before them.