Skip to main content

Mega Fauna Kangaroos Were Different

Millions of years ago kangaroos were much different than they are today. The sthenurine kangaroo once dominated Australia. It became extinct only 30,000 years ago when the maga fauna era ended. They were two meters tall, much too large to hop. It is surmised that they walked like humans.

Their face was flat and they looked like a rabbit with a large tail. They were a side branch of the kangaroo family. The main line continued to become modern kangaroos. Procoptodon golliah grew to three meters tall and weighed about 240kg.

Scientists had assumed that they hopped like modern kangaroos. The most obvious conclusion is usually the best, but in this case it was wrong. Their bone structure points to them walking. Having a large tail was a bonus: it improved balance.

The mega fauna period has been painted as a time of happy giants. For humans it would have been frightening. These oversized creatures would have been difficult to hunt. Indeed, humans probably had a policy of keeping their distance. Just because most did not eat meat does not mean they weren't dangerous.
✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     Australian Blog★                         
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)
Share Article
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Cow

"Yes, I am content." ✿ Funny Animal Photos contented cow field Adventure Australia Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● ⌘   Vista Computer Solutions Blog   ⌘ ✤ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   . . . . . . . . . . cow content happy good life free field paddock green grass milk dairy COW NOT LEAVING HOME
Read more

Anthropology Has New Theory on Australian Aboriginals

New theory on Australian Aboriginals - Anthropology. Australian Aboriginals split from Eurasians and moved south into the dry continent. Twenty thousand years later the world warmed up and Australia was cut off from its northern neighbors. This is the latest theory.  But when Europeans initially came to Queensland there were two types of native people. Each was a distinct genetic pool. One was like Papua New Guineans. The other was very slight and shorter. It is the latter that predominates today. Papua New Guineans Australian Aboriginals Some scientists still hold that there was only one move out of Africa. This is an unsustainable supposition. The doors for movement were always open. Australian Aboriginals were quite unique. It seems that they were the first to leave Africa. There is also the question of Tasmanian Aboriginals who were wiped out by arriving Europeans. There is no evidence of them now. They could not light fires. The flames had to be stol...
Read more

Natural History Museum Human Evolution Gallery

 The Human Evolution gallery at Natural History explores the origins of Homo sapiens by tracing our lineage back to when it separated from that of our closest living relatives, the bonobos and chimpanzees. Around 200,000 years ago, Africa was where modern humans developed. They have smaller faces and brow ridges, a chin that is more prominent than that of other ancient humans, and a brain case that is higher and more rounded. Modern human fossils from Israel (around 100,000 years old), Africa (around 195,000 years old), and Australia (around 12,000 years old) are among the casts on display. These fossils demonstrate that typical characteristics of modern humans evolved over time rather than emerging fully formed from Africa. They also suggest that at least two waves of people leaving Africa may have occurred, one about 100,000 years ago and the other about 60,000 years ago. We are all descendants of those who left during that second migration wave outside of Africa. Source: Natural...
Read more