Biology of Australia

The fauna of Australia

This was the largest of the sthenurine kangaroos from the Pleistocene, with an estimated weight of about 200 kg, about 2.5 times heavier than the largest living red kangaroo, Macropus rufus. A browsing kangaroo, it had a maximum reach of more than 3 m. It was the more highly adapted to leaf eating than any other sthenurine kangaroo. The short face of the skull allowed it to develop very powerful jaw muscles to eat very fibrous material, probably leaves and stems, probably in forests. It flourished over most of the continent, then at about 50,000 years ago it went extinct, along with many other Australian browsing animals.

Links

Naracoort fossils

Sources & Further reading

1. Tyndale-Biscoe, Hugh, 2005, Life of Marsupials, CSIRO Publishing.
2. Chris Johnson, Australia's Mammal Extinctions, a 50,000 year history, Cambridge University Press, 2006