Hunters, not climate change, killed giant beasts 40,000 years
agoMarch 22nd, 2012 in Biology / Ecology The Diprotodon optatum,
a marsupial mega-herbivore sometimes known as the Giant Wombat
or the Rhinoceros Wombat, grew to three metres in length and two
metres in height. Its closest surviving relatives are the wombat
and the koala. Peter Murray The first Australians hunted giant
kangaroos, rhinoceros-sized marsupials, huge goannas and other
megafauna to extinction shortly after arriving in the country
more than 40,000 years ago, new research claims. A team of
scientists from six universities say they have put an end to the
long-running debate about the cause of the sudden disappearance
of giant vertebrates from the Australian ecosystem, and the
dramatic change to the landscape that followed. Soon after the
beasts disappeared, there was a rapid shift in vegetation across
Australia. Once covered by patches of rainforest separated by
areas of open grassland, it was soon smothered by eucalypt
forest, the researc