{"id":4455,"date":"2022-07-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=4455"},"modified":"2022-06-29T08:36:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T08:36:05","slug":"this-giant-kangaroo-once-roamed-new-guinea-descended-from-an-australian-ancestor-that-migrated-millions-of-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/this-giant-kangaroo-once-roamed-new-guinea-descended-from-an-australian-ancestor-that-migrated-millions-of-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"This giant kangaroo once roamed New Guinea \u2013 descended from an Australian ancestor that migrated millions of years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \n Illustration by Peter Schouten<\/span>, Author provided<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nIsaac Alan Robert Kerr<\/a>, Flinders University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Long ago, almost up until the end of the last ice age, a peculiar giant kangaroo roamed the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea.<\/p>\n\n

Now, research to be published<\/a> on Thursday by myself and colleagues suggests this kangaroo was not closely related to modern Australian kangaroos. Rather, it represents a previously unknown type of primitive kangaroo unique to New Guinea.<\/p>\n\n

The age of megafauna<\/h2>\n\n

Australia used to be home to all manner of giant animals called megafauna, until most of them went extinct about 40,000 years ago. These megafauna lived alongside animals we now consider characteristic of the Australian bush \u2013 kangaroos, koalas, crocodiles and the like \u2013 but many were larger species of these.<\/p>\n\n

There were giant wombats called Phascolonus<\/em>, 2.5-metre-tall short-faced kangaroos, and the 3-tonne Diprotodon optatum<\/em> (the largest marsupial ever).\nIn fact, some Australian megafaunal species, such as the red kangaroo, emu and cassowary, survive through to the modern day.<\/p>\n\n

The fossil megafauna of New Guinea are considerably less well-studied than those of Australia. But despite being shrouded in mystery, New Guinea\u2019s fossil record has given us hints of fascinating and unusual animals whose evolutionary stories are entwined with Australia\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n

Palaeontologists have done sporadic expeditions and fossil digs in New Guinea, including digs by American and Australian researchers in the 1960s, \u201970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n\n

It was during an archaeological excavation in the early 1970s, led by Mary-Jane Mountain, that two jaws of an extinct giant kangaroo were unearthed. A young researcher (now professor) named Tim Flannery called the species Protemnodon nombe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

The fossils Flannery described are about 20,000\u201350,000 years old. They come from the Nombe Rockshelter, an archaeological and palaeontological site in the mountains of central Papua New Guinea. This site also delivered fossils of another kangaroo and giant four-legged marsupials called diprotodontids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unexpected discovery<\/h2>\n\n

Flinders University Professor Gavin Prideaux and I recently re-examined the fossils of Protemnodon nombe<\/em> and found something unexpected. This strange kangaroo was not a species of the genus Protemnodon<\/em>, which used to live all over Australia, from the Kimberley to Tasmania. It was something a lot more primitive and unknown.<\/p>\n\n

In particular, its unusual molars with curved enamel crests set it apart from all other known kangaroos. We moved the species into a brand new genus unique to New Guinea and (very creatively) renamed it Nombe nombe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

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