Volcanic eruption may have helped drive real-life hobbits extinct

A volcano on Flores

Did a volcano on the island of Flores wipe out Homo floresiensis?

Peter-Verreussel/Getty

About 50,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Flores, all the large animals disappeared at once. The losses included dwarf elephants, carnivorous birds – and a species of diminutive hominin known as the “hobbit”, or Homo floresiensis.

It’s not clear why. A volcano erupted, and the climate was shifting. But there is also tentative evidence that there was a new threat on the island: modern humans.

Hobbits were first described in 2004, after bones were found in the Liang Bua …