Human ingenuity would definitely be called for in hunting this critter – surely people didn’t just throw spears at it. They’d look for sites for natural pit traps, rockfalls, etc. Trying to use nets, as in the film 10,000 BC, would likely be a good way to get dragged or trampled to death.

Why don’t we hear of gigantism among other placentals?

Pre-horse American locals would drive bison over a cliff, as a much more effective way to get meat to preserve for the winter. Could it be that pre-historic peoples would have hunted other megafauna the same way?

It’s one thing to imagine fanciful brontosaurs stretching their necks waaay up into the trees, and terrifying T-Rex galloping along after our Jeep, but when we double (or triple!) the size of the local zoo’s friendly pachyderm in our mind’s eye, now you’re talkin’ a serious creature!

Imagine going after one of those beasts with a Pleistocene-era spear – you’d have to be pretty hungry. Of course, they must have been slow moving, easy targets, but still…