Australian megafauna – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Artist’s impression of the prehistoric landscape and creatures that Protemnodon would have walked among. Peter Schouten

April 15, 2024

We found three new species of extinct giant kangaroo – and we don’t know why they died out when their cousins survived

Isaac A. R. Kerr, Flinders University

Some extinct kangaroos may barely have hopped at all.

A flock of vultures (*Cryptogyps lacertosus*) and Australian ravens watch and wait (left), as an adult eagle *Dynatoaetus pachyosteus* feeds on the carcass of a dead *Diprotodon* (centre), while a younger bird seeks to join in. In the nearby treetops, a second adult *D. pachyosteus* feeds its hungry chick (right). John Barrie

November 16, 2023

Giant eagles and scavenging vultures shared the skies of ancient Australia

Ellen K. Mather, Flinders University; Mike Lee, Flinders University, and Trevor H. Worthy, Flinders University

New fossils reveal Australia was once home to a much greater diversity of huge eagles and vultures, which died off alongside ‘giant wombats’ and ‘marsupial lions’.

June 13, 2023

Meet the biggest and most bizarre skink ever found in Australia. It became extinct 47,000 years ago

Mike Lee, Flinders University; Diana Fusco, Flinders University, and Kailah Thorn, Western Australian Museum

Researchers have found an armoured fossil skink 1,000 times heavier than the ones in your garden. Its closest living relative is the shingleback lizard.

Virtual Australian Museum of Palaeontology

June 1, 2023

A new virtual museum reveals 600 million years of Australian fossils in unprecedented 3D detail

Alice Clement, Flinders University; Aaron Camens, Flinders University, and Jacob van Zoelen, Flinders University

Digital scanning offers a new window on Australia’s unique fossil history, from early multicellular lifeforms to gigantic ‘marsupial lions’.

May 30, 2023

Newly described enormous marsupial wandered great distances across Australia 3.5 million years ago

Jacob van Zoelen, Flinders University; Aaron Camens, Flinders University, and Gavin Prideaux, Flinders University

Having special foot adaptations helped these sizeable animals wander long distances, which meant a better chance to find plentiful food and water.

Dynatoaetus gaffae was twice the size of the wedge-tailed eagle we know today. Mike Lee

March 16, 2023

Australia’s extinct giant eagle was big enough to snatch koalas from trees

Ellen K. Mather, Flinders University; Aaron Camens, Flinders University; Mike Lee, Flinders University, and Trevor H. Worthy, Flinders University

At twice the size of a wedge-tailed eagle, the newly discovered Dynatoaetus gaffae would have competed with thylacines and Tasmanian devils for prey.

The giant bird Genyornis went extinct in Australia around 50,000 years ago. Peter Trusler

January 24, 2023

How we cracked the mystery of Australia’s prehistoric giant eggs

Matthew James Collins, University of Cambridge; Beatrice Demarchi, Università di Torino, and Gifford Miller, University of Colorado Boulder

A puzzle over the identity of an extinct bird that laid eggs across Australia has been solved.

Ramsayia reconstruction (r) next to a modern wombat. Eleanor Pease

December 12, 2022

For the first time ever, we have a complete skull description of a true fossil giant wombat

Julien Louys, Griffith University; Gilbert Price, The University of Queensland; Mathieu Duval, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), and Robin Beck, University of Salford

80,000 years ago, Australia’s landscape was dominated by much larger versions of today’s marsupials – including enigmatic and enormous wombats.

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