Right, the article hints at this at the very end, hypothesizing that those animals that did survive were able to adapt to the conditions of an extended winter b

Right, the article hints at this at the very end, hypothesizing that those animals that did survive were able to adapt to the conditions of an extended winter better than the larger herbivores and their predators. Birds for instance can subsist on nuts and insects -- things that might survive a disturbed global climate -- and recover the next year, with some local die-offs. Large herbivores though have to eat plant matter constantly. They can hardly survive a week without eating, let alone months. Those population die-offs then in turn cause a die-off among any species that depends on hunting those animals.