Australia’s giant kangaroos of yesteryear were likely homebodies — and that inclination ultimately did them in.
The massive marsupial megaherbivores, which, at an estimated 375 pounds, weighed more than twice as much as contemporary kangaroos, really had no reason to wander. Until about 280,000 years ago, they lived in a plant-eater’s Eden — a lush rainforest that, to them, probably seemed like the ultimate salad bar.
But their inability — or unwillingness — likely led to their extinction when the climate started changing, according to a new study in the journal PLOS ONE.
Earlier studies proposed that Protemnodon didn’t have the physical ability to hop very far. Their unwieldy size and ungainly body shape rendered them unsuitable for long-distance foraging. This runs contrary to large mammalian herbivores, in which the bigger the body size, the wider the foraging range. Consider the buffalo. Studies of other ancient kangaroo species suggest they ...
