In the south, the giant ground sloth flourished until about 10,500 radiocarbon years BP. Most cite the appearance of an expanding population of human hunters as the cause of its extinction.[18] There are a few late dates of around 8000 BP and one of 7000 BP[19] for Megatherium remains, but the most recent date viewed as credible is about 10,000 BP.[20] The use of bioclimatic envelope modeling indicates that the area of suitable habitat for Megatherium had shrunk and become fragmented by the mid-Holocene. While this alone would not likely have caused its extinction, it has been cited as a possible contributing factor.