But at least one archaeologist isn't convinced, saying evidence
points to climate change playing a key role in their extinction.
Dr Gavin Prideaux of the Western Australian Museum in Perth and
colleagues base their conclusion after analysing fossils
including the now extinct marsupial 'lion' Thylacoleo, giant
wombats, thylacines and giant kangaroos. "If humans had never
come into the country, all of these animals would still be here
today," says Prideaux, whose research appears today in the
journal Nature. The well-preserved fossils were discovered in
2002 and are of animals that were trapped in the underground
caves in the Nullarbor Plain some 400,000 to 800,000 years ago.
Some researchers argue that such megafauna were wiped out as
they couldn't adapt to the arid conditions brought about by ice
ages. But Prideaux and team say humans are more likely to have
been the culprits. They say previous evidence suggests the
megafauna died around 40,000-50,000 years ago, at about the time
humans arrived. And now their