Palaeontologists from the Victoria Museum Research Institute and other institutions have discovered Cymostenurus occidentalis Fossils of a eastern grey kangaroo, a species of giant short-faced kangaroo that lived in Australia until about 42,000 years ago, have been discovered in Nightshade Cave in Gunaikurnai County, north of the town of Buchan in eastern Victoria, Australia.
“Short-faced kangaroo They appear in the Australian fossil record around 10 to 15 million years ago, when tropical rainforests began to give way to drier habitats.” Said Dr Tim Ziegler, Collections Manager at Museum Research Victoria;
“They especially diversified during the Late Pleistocene, about 500,000 years ago, during the transition to our present-day arid climate.”
“But in a wave of extinction around 45,000 years ago, they disappeared from the entire continent, along with up to 85% of Australia's large animals.”
49,400-year-old skeleton of a giant short-faced kangaroo Cymostenurus occidentalis It was discovered in Nightshade Cave in Victoria.
The animal's skull was discovered by a local cave group in 2011, and just 10 years later, the individual's skeleton below the skull was discovered by expert paleontologists.
“The skull had a deep snout, robust jaws and teeth, characteristic of a short-faced kangaroo,” Dr Ziegler explained.
“Behind it there were many more bones. It was amazing to see the vertebrae, shoulders, hips, limbs and thin rib cage. Many of the bones had not been moved at all and were still in their original position. This was one animal, not just bones scattered randomly. It felt like the Holy Grail of fossils.”
According to the team, the discovery was made at a young age. Cymostenurus occidentalis.
“This is a further distinction from other species of this animal as it is a juvenile rather than an adult kangaroo,” Dr Ziegler said.
“The teeth had barely worn down, the skull had not yet fused, and the ends of the limbs had not yet joined together.”
“Based on the size of its limbs, we estimate its weight to be around 80 kilograms, which is roughly the weight of an average human. However, as an adult, it may have been half that size.”
The specimen consists of 150 preserved bones and is the most complete fossil skeleton ever found in a Victorian cave.
This fossil, along with others from Nightshade Cave, are now permanently housed and cared for at the Melbourne Museum.
“The skeleton we found has a perfectly intact spinal column, providing new insights that aren't possible from isolated bones,” Dr Ziegler said.
“Thanks to the detailed 3D model, this nearly complete skeleton can be studied from anywhere in the world.”
“A key idea under investigation is whether the Stenulin kangaroo was striding rather than hopping.”
Source: www.sci.news
