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| Eric Stevens... |
 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:14 pm |
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6559930.ece
[Picture] (Artist Peter Trusler/Australian Postal Corporation)
Artist's illustration of the extinct Procoptodon goliah which roamed
around Australia 45,000 years ago
Giant prehistoric kangaroos wiped out by hungry Ice Age hunters
Artist's illustration of the giant extinct kangaroo Procoptodon goliah
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney
It stood tall at 6’5, weighed over 500lbs, had the face of a koala and
the body of a sturdy kangaroo. And apparently it was delicious.
Scientists think they have discovered the reason behind the demise of
the prehistoric Australian marsupial Procoptodon goliah – better known
as the giant, short-snouted kangaroo. They say it was not climate
change, as has always been assumed, but hungry Ice Age hunters.
The animal – about three times bigger than a modern-day kangaroo and
with slightly different features - was one of many Ice-Age megafauna
whose demise has long been debated among experts, but usually put down
to the changing environment.
However an international team of scientists, led by Gavin Prideaux
from Flinders University in South Australia, has discovered a
different theory behind the reason the animal became extinct 45,000
years ago.
The research, published this week in the US journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences , not only shines a new light on the
demise of the animal – the largest kangaroo ever to evolve - but also
on the landscape of Australia at the time.
While the scientists were unable to uncover direct proof of the
hunting theory – such as a fossil or the like displaying wounds – they
did so by a process of elimination.
The team studied the anatomy of the giant kangaroo’s skull as well as
scratches on its teeth and isotopes in the tooth enamel, and
determined that it had a “strong preference” for drought-tolerant
plants such as saltbushes, rather than grass which is the staple diet
of the modern-day kangaroo.
It had also evolved in response to arid conditions, but became extinct
during one of the wetter periods it had previously survived – 5,000
years after humans are thought to have first arrived in Australia.
The high intake of saltbushes would have meant the giant kangaroo
drank more water and would have been frequently found at waterholes
and therefore vulnerable to hunters.
These combined factors led the scientific team to determine that
“human hunting was a more likely extinction cause”.
“If Procoptodon goliah ate a lot of saltbush, then just like modern
saltbush-fed sheep, it probably needed to drink more regularly than
its grazing contemporaries,” Dr Linda Ayliffe, a US-based member of
the scientific team, said.
And, just like saltbush-fed sheep, it would have tasted good too,
according to Dr Prideaux, an Australian palaeontologist who
specialises in the giant kangaroo.
Describing the animal, which was thought to have been in abundance
across the whole of Australia, Dr Prideaux said it had “the head of a
koala – minus the fluffy ears – and the body of a giant, solid
kangaroo”.
Unlike its modern-day relatives, the giant kangaroo was very big and
imposing and not as agile.
“These were a lot slower and gravitated towards waterholes, so they
were basically sitting ducks for the humans,” Dr Prideaux told The
Times.
“And they fed on saltbush so if you think the modern kangaroo tastes
nice, this would have been lovely.”
According to the scientists, Australia was also once the home to
rhinoceros-sized herbivores, marsupial lions, giant wombats and giant
lizards, and suffered the worst extinctions of all the continents,
losing 90 per cent of the larger species by 40,000 years ago.
Despite the extinction of the Procoptodon goliah, kangaroos are now
commonly found in Australia. Along with the emu, the iconic Australian
marsupial is featured on the country’s national coat of arms.
Eric Stevens |
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| deowll... |
| Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:58 pm |
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"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens at (no spam) sum.co.nz> wrote in message
news:k2r445pf6ogpon586bfmfmqsn0qlio4s7g at (no spam) 4ax.com...
[quote:81137e759e]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6559930.ece
[Picture] (Artist Peter Trusler/Australian Postal Corporation)
Artist's illustration of the extinct Procoptodon goliah which roamed
around Australia 45,000 years ago
Giant prehistoric kangaroos wiped out by hungry Ice Age hunters
Artist's illustration of the giant extinct kangaroo Procoptodon goliah
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney
It stood tall at 6’5, weighed over 500lbs, had the face of a koala and
the body of a sturdy kangaroo. And apparently it was delicious.
Scientists think they have discovered the reason behind the demise of
the prehistoric Australian marsupial Procoptodon goliah – better known
as the giant, short-snouted kangaroo. They say it was not climate
change, as has always been assumed, but hungry Ice Age hunters.
The animal – about three times bigger than a modern-day kangaroo and
with slightly different features - was one of many Ice-Age megafauna
whose demise has long been debated among experts, but usually put down
to the changing environment.
However an international team of scientists, led by Gavin Prideaux
from Flinders University in South Australia, has discovered a
different theory behind the reason the animal became extinct 45,000
years ago.
The research, published this week in the US journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences , not only shines a new light on the
demise of the animal – the largest kangaroo ever to evolve - but also
on the landscape of Australia at the time.
While the scientists were unable to uncover direct proof of the
hunting theory – such as a fossil or the like displaying wounds – they
did so by a process of elimination.
The team studied the anatomy of the giant kangaroo’s skull as well as
scratches on its teeth and isotopes in the tooth enamel, and
determined that it had a “strong preference” for drought-tolerant
plants such as saltbushes, rather than grass which is the staple diet
of the modern-day kangaroo.
It had also evolved in response to arid conditions, but became extinct
during one of the wetter periods it had previously survived – 5,000
years after humans are thought to have first arrived in Australia.
The high intake of saltbushes would have meant the giant kangaroo
drank more water and would have been frequently found at waterholes
and therefore vulnerable to hunters.
These combined factors led the scientific team to determine that
“human hunting was a more likely extinction cause”.
“If Procoptodon goliah ate a lot of saltbush, then just like modern
saltbush-fed sheep, it probably needed to drink more regularly than
its grazing contemporaries,” Dr Linda Ayliffe, a US-based member of
the scientific team, said.
And, just like saltbush-fed sheep, it would have tasted good too,
according to Dr Prideaux, an Australian palaeontologist who
specialises in the giant kangaroo.
Describing the animal, which was thought to have been in abundance
across the whole of Australia, Dr Prideaux said it had “the head of a
koala – minus the fluffy ears – and the body of a giant, solid
kangaroo”.
Unlike its modern-day relatives, the giant kangaroo was very big and
imposing and not as agile.
“These were a lot slower and gravitated towards waterholes, so they
were basically sitting ducks for the humans,” Dr Prideaux told The
Times.
“And they fed on saltbush so if you think the modern kangaroo tastes
nice, this would have been lovely.”
According to the scientists, Australia was also once the home to
rhinoceros-sized herbivores, marsupial lions, giant wombats and giant
lizards, and suffered the worst extinctions of all the continents,
losing 90 per cent of the larger species by 40,000 years ago.
Despite the extinction of the Procoptodon goliah, kangaroos are now
commonly found in Australia. Along with the emu, the iconic Australian
marsupial is featured on the country’s national coat of arms.
Eric Stevens
[/quote:81137e759e]
You left out something. While the place was drying out you hand humans
setting fires all over the bleeping place.
This means.
1) Climate change which is hard of animals
2) Over hunting with no kill limits and taking everything they can take
3)The frequency of fires went way up which can completely change the kind of
plant cover a location has.
The animals might have been able to adjust to the first one by
moving/changing behaviors but all three at the same time can cause a
population to fall to zero. |
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| kangarooistan... |
| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:13 am |
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Guest
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On Jun 25, 3:14am, Eric Stevens <eric.stev... at (no spam) sum.co.nz> wrote:
[quote:936e6a08f5]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6559930.ece
[Picture] (Artist Peter Trusler/Australian Postal Corporation)
Artist's illustration of the extinct Procoptodon goliah which roamed
around Australia 45,000 years ago
Giant prehistoric kangaroos wiped out by hungry Ice Age hunters
Artist's illustration of the giant extinct kangaroo Procoptodon goliah
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney
It stood tall at 65, weighed over 500lbs, had the face of a koala and
the body of a sturdy kangaroo. And apparently it was delicious.
Scientists think they have discovered the reason behind the demise of
the prehistoric Australian marsupial Procoptodon goliah better known
as the giant, short-snouted kangaroo. They say it was not climate
change, as has always been assumed, but hungry Ice Age hunters.
The animal about three times bigger than a modern-day kangaroo and
with slightly different features - was one of many Ice-Age megafauna
whose demise has long been debated among experts, but usually put down
to the changing environment.
However an international team of scientists, led by Gavin Prideaux
from Flinders University in South Australia, has discovered a
different theory behind the reason the animal became extinct 45,000
years ago.
The research, published this week in the US journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences , not only shines a new light on the
demise of the animal the largest kangaroo ever to evolve - but also
on the landscape of Australia at the time.
While the scientists were unable to uncover direct proof of the
hunting theory such as a fossil or the like displaying wounds they
did so by a process of elimination.
The team studied the anatomy of the giant kangaroos skull as well as
scratches on its teeth and isotopes in the tooth enamel, and
determined that it had a strong preference for drought-tolerant
plants such as saltbushes, rather than grass which is the staple diet
of the modern-day kangaroo.
..
It had also evolved in response to arid conditions, but became extinct
during one of the wetter periods it had previously survived 5,000
years after humans are thought to have first arrived in Australia.
[/quote:936e6a08f5]
If as Mega fauna they had been here a long while , and spread widely ,
the numbers of humans was very tiny , until the last few thousand
years
aboriginal people were only in tiny numbers compared to the potential
number of food species available
[quote:936e6a08f5]
The high intake of saltbushes would have meant the giant kangaroo
drank more water and would have been frequently found at waterholes
and therefore vulnerable to hunters.
In a drought water holes are easy pickings for hunters of all kinds[/quote:936e6a08f5]
Early Humans would soon discover how to exploit this opportunity
But the increase of easy food would not change the yearly hunting
cycle that could harvest game from certain water holes but not apply
in many others , some water holes are easy pickings , but many are too
big or too long to cover completely , IMHO
If you examine the continent you will note the water hole theory could
not apply over most of Australia and as Humans were only present in
TINY numbers until a few thousand years ago ,the numbers dont look
like they hold together tightly
e combined factors led the scientific team to determine that
[quote:936e6a08f5]human hunting was a more likely extinction cause.
If Procoptodon goliah ate a lot of saltbush, then just like modern
saltbush-fed sheep, it probably needed to drink more regularly than
its grazing contemporaries, Dr Linda Ayliffe, a US-based member of
the scientific team, said.
And, just like saltbush-fed sheep, it would have tasted good too,
according to Dr Prideaux, an Australian palaeontologist who
specialises in the giant kangaroo.
Describing the animal, which was thought to have been in abundance
across the whole of Australia, Dr Prideaux said it had the head of a
koala minus the fluffy ears and the body of a giant, solid
kangaroo.
Unlike its modern-day relatives, the giant kangaroo was very big and
imposing and not as agile.
These were a lot slower and gravitated towards waterholes, so they
were basically sitting ducks for the humans, Dr Prideaux told The
Times.
And they fed on saltbush so if you think the modern kangaroo tastes
nice, this would have been lovely.
According to the scientists, Australia was also once the home to
rhinoceros-sized herbivores, marsupial lions, giant wombats and giant
lizards, and suffered the worst extinctions of all the continents,
losing 90 per cent of the larger species by 40,000 years ago.
Despite the extinction of the Procoptodon goliah, kangaroos are now
commonly found in Australia. Along with the emu, the iconic Australian
marsupial is featured on the countrys national coat of arms.
Eric Stevens[/quote:936e6a08f5] |
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