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The Late Pleistocene vertebrate record of Africa contributes to our understanding of human evolution and the development of modern biotic environments. This article explores this record, paying particular attention to terrestrial mammals. Because the origins of physically and behaviorally modern humans occurred in Africa during the Late Pleistocene, much of what we know about vertebrates from this time comes from archeological research. Most of the mammal species found in Africa during the Late Pleistocene were also found here historically; only a few African species went extinct during the Late Pleistocene. However, many changes in species' ranges, abundance, and associations made Late Pleistocene faunal communities look different from today's communities. As climate changed, so did vegetation, creating unique habitats, many of which do not exist today. Each species' unique responses to these changes caused the formation of mammal communities that do not have analogs today, meaning that species are often found together in fossil assemblages that were not found together historically. Often fossil species are found in places where today their descendants live hundreds of kilometers away, indicating that their past ranges had either shifted or expanded.