Rock inscriptions and tomb carvings have shed light on the large beasts that thrived in Egypt before they were wiped out around 6,000 years ago.

The etchings depict horned hartebeest and oryx, as well as other big mammals, that lived in the Nile Valley before its ecology changed dramatically, and the country became drier overall.

Experts claim that 37 large bodied mammals including lions, wild dogs, elephants and giraffes, lived in Egypt before the time of the pharaohs which began in 3,100 BC - compared to just eight now.

Scientists studied depictions of animals in Egyptian artefacts to assemble a detailed record of the animals present in the Nile Valley going back to pre-dynastic times. This 5,150 year-old ceremonial stone palette is ramed by two wild dogs clasping one another’s paws and features ostrich, hartebeest, oryx and giraffes

Scientists have used depictions of animals in Egyptian artefacts to assemble a detailed record of the animals present in the Nile Valley going back to pre-dynastic times.

The study shows species extinctions in the area - probably caused by a drying climate and an exploding human population - made the ecosystem progressively less stable.

One of the artefacts examined was a 5,150 year-old ceremonial stone palette housed in a museum at Oxford University.

It is framed by two wild dogs clasping one another’s paws and features ostrich, hartebeest, wildebeest, ibex, oryx and giraffes.

The palette also features mythical creatures including serpent-necked panthers and what is thought to be a griffin - a legendary bird with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

The etchings depict horned hartebeest (pictured left in the Namibian desert) and oryx (pictured right) as well as other cumbersome animals that lived in the Nile Valley before its ecology changed dramatically and the country became drier

CHANGING MAMMALS IN EGYPT

Experts say that 37 large bodied mammals also including lions, wild dogs, elephants and giraffes lived in Egypt before the time of the pharaohs which began in 3,100 BC - compared to just eight now.

Computational analysis identified five episodes when dramatic changes occurred in Egypt’s mammals, three of which coincided with extreme environmental changes as the climate shifted to more arid conditions. These droughts also coincided with upheaval in human societies such as the collapse of the Old Kingdom around 4,000 years ago and the fall of the New Kingdom about 1,000 years later.

Dr Yeakel said: ‘There were three large pulses of aridification as Egypt went from a wetter to a drier climate - starting with the end of the African Humid Period 5,000 years ago when the monsoons shifted to the south.

‘At the same time human population densities were increasing and competition for space along the Nile Valley would have had a large impact on animal populations.’

The most recent major shift in mammalian communities occurred about 100 years ago. The analysis of predator-prey networks showed species extinctions in the past 150 years had a disproportionately large impact on ecosystem stability.

Another stone tablet, kept in the British Museum, shows human hunters armed with bows, spears, clubs and lassoes stalking lions, gazelles, hartebeest and an ostrich.

Dr Justin Yeakel, of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, explained that when there were many species in the area, the loss of any one had little impact on the rest, but now the ecosystem is much more sensitive to perturbations.

Dr Yeakel, who was at California University in Santa Cruz when he carried out the study, added: ‘What was once a rich and diverse mammalian community is very different now.

‘As the number of species declined one of the primary things lost was the ecological redundancy of the system. There were multiple species of gazelles and other small herbivores which are important because so many different predators prey on them.

‘When there are fewer of those small herbivores the loss of any one species has a much greater effect on the stability of the system and can lead to additional extinctions.’

The study, published in the journal PNAS, is based on records compiled in zoologist Dale Osborne’s 1998 book The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, which was, itself, based on archaeological and palaeontological evidence, as well as historical records.

Dr Yeakel said: ‘Dale Osborne compiled an incredible database of when species were represented in artwork and how that changed over time. His work allowed us to use ecological modelling techniques to look at the ramifications of those changes.’

The study looked at which animals lived in the Nile Valley (marked in green) before the time of the Pharoahs

Computer analysis identified five episodes when dramatic changes occurred in Egypt’s mammal population, three of which coincided with extreme environmental changes as the climate shifted to more arid conditions.

These droughts also coincided with upheaval in human societies such as the collapse of the Old Kingdom around 4,000 years ago, and the fall of the New Kingdom about 1,000 years later.

Dr Yeakel said: ‘There were three large pulses of aridification as Egypt went from a wetter to a drier climate - starting with the end of the African Humid Period 5,000 years ago when the monsoons shifted to the south.

‘At the same time human population densities were increasing and competition for space along the Nile Valley would have had a large impact on animal populations.’

The most recent major shift in mammalian communities occurred about 100 years ago. The analysis of predator-prey networks showed species extinctions in the past 150 years had a disproportionately large impact on ecosystem stability.

Dr Yeakel said these findings have implications for understanding modern ecosystems.

‘This may be just one example of a larger pattern. We see a lot of ecosystems today in which a change in one species produces a big shift in how the ecosystem functions - and that might be a modern phenomenon,’ he said.