An article published in the journal “Communications Biology” reports a study on a hitherto unknown mass extinction of mammals that occurred in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula between the end of the Eocene period and the beginning of the Oligocene period. A team of researchers led by Dorien de Vries of the University of Salford mainly used the Duke University fossil collection to establish that an extinction affecting Europe and Asia after climate change that led to significant cooling had also affected warmer areas. Some important geological events contributed to the decline of mammals in those areas.