Killer kangaroo’s remains unearthed

Press, 9 August 1988, Page 36

Killer kangaroo’s remains unearthed

NZPA-AAP Sydney A group of Australian researchers claim to have discovered the remains of a prehistoric killer kangaroo in north-west Queensland. The find was revealed by Dr Michael Archer at the inaugural lecture of the Australian Geographic Society at Terrey Hills, in Sydney’s north. Dr Archer, associate professor of zoology at the University of New South Wales, told society members that the head of the carnivorous kangaroo, a world first, had been unearthed at Riversleigh, a cattle station near Mount Isa. Dr Archer and a research team found bone fragments of more than 200 known species trapped in the dried-out limestone remains of water holes. They also identified 80 new species. Species included the largest marsupial so far found — the massive rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon; threemetre high kangaroos; a marsupial lion (related to the wombat); and a seven-metre python. But the most significant discovery was the carnivorous kangaroo. The modern kangaroo is a herbivore, and it has always been believed the marsupials were strictly vegetarian.

Dr Archer and his team’s search began after they found the fossilised jawbone of what they thought was a kangaroo. But the razor-sharp teeth

could only have belonged to a flesheating animal. The mystery was solved when they discovered a full head of the carnivorous kangaroo. He said tests on a substance in the bone called strontium, usually only found in high levels in flesh eaters, confirmed the kangaroo as a carnivore. The levels were twice those in herbivorous kangaroos. From measuring the skull of the kangaroo, scientists would be able to reconstruct the whole body. Dr Archer said that from evidence so far, the kangaroo, whose scientific name was Ekaltadeta, was about as large as a medium-sized eastern-grey kangaroo — about 1.5 m tall. It stalked the forests of ancient Australia, feeding on animals such as rodents, lizards, bandicoots, opossums and an abundance of other smaller, marsupials of the time. Dr Archer said he believed the species survived until about 50,000 years ago and would have been in Australia when the first Aboriginals arrived. Scientists were still to determine why it died out, .but it was probably because of a climatic change which caused a reduction in its normal forest-dwelling prey. As the continent dried out and the dense forest gave way to open woods and grasslands, the herbivorous kangaroos and similar animals were better suited for survival.