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Giant Kangaroos

20 April 2024
Biology, Palaeontology

At https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240415110602.htm … palaeontologists have excavated 3 new species of extinct kangaroos that lived between 5 million years and 40,000 years ago. Note the end date coincides with the Laschamp Event. It is associated with a mass die off of animals.

One of them is double the size of a modern red kangaroo. Unfortunately, at 40,000 years ago all species of Protemnoden [including the above] became extinct on mainland Australia  – in spite of differences in size, adaptation, and geographic range. See more at https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.11.1.1 …. However, it is known that a kangaroo that walked on four legs but had the ability to hop was living in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, as recently as 20,000 years ago. In other words, it survived Laschamp but disappeared at a time corresponding with the end of the Late Glacial Maximum – which also involved a mass die off of animals.

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