Lessons Learnt From Drought Deaths 40,000 Years Ago Brisbane,
Australia (SPX) Nov 28, 2006 Drought-stricken Australia should
heed a warning from a new study that shows a series of massive
droughts killed giant kangaroos and other "megafauna" in south-
east Queensland 40,000 years ago, according to researchers from
the Queensland University of Technology. Scientists Dr Gilbert
Price and Dr Gregory Webb believe understanding how the
prehistoric big dry caused extinctions could help predict how
and if animals battling current climate change will survive. The
QUT research into the giant Australian marsupials and reptiles
and the impact of climate change will be published in the
December issue of the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. Dr
Price and Dr Webb studied the fossil-rich Darling Downs area of
south-east Queensland with the help of palaeontologists from the
Queensland Museum and an amateur local fossil hunter, Ian Sobbe.
Dr Price said what the team unearthed showed that giant
kangaroos and other large wil