What is Australian megafauna?
[[Image:Thylacoleo skeleton in Naracoorte Caves.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Marsupial Lion]] skeleton in [[Naracoorte Caves National Park|Naracoorte Caves]], South Australia.]] '''Australian megafauna''' is a word used to describe a number of [[animal]] [[species]] in [[Australia]] that are quite a bit bigger than their closest living relatives. These species became [[extinction|extinct]] during the [[Pleistocene]] (16,100±100 - 50,000 years before present),<ref>Vanderwal and Fullager 1989 as cited in Josephine Flood (2004) Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J.B Publishing, Marleston p, 182 {{ISBN|1-876-62250-4}}</ref> but exact dates for their [[extinct]]ion have only been discovered recently. Some mythological creatures from the [[Aboriginal dreamtime]] look a bit like animals from the prehistoric Australian megafauna. ==Extinction== [[Scientist]]s have been unable to agree on the reasons the megafauna became extinct. It is possible when humans came to Australia (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), and began hunting and using [[Fire-stick farming|fire]], they may have caused the extinction of the megafauna.<ref>Miller, G. H. 2005. Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction. ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'', 309:287-290 PMID 16002615</ref> [[Climate]] change, which made the country much drier during an [[Ice age|Ice Age]] about 18,000 years ago, may have also have led to the extinction of the megafauna. Some scientists say that climate change alone caused the extinction of the megafauna. This argument does not allow for the fact that the megafaunal species had lived through two million years of climate changes. They had lived through a number of dry times before their sudden extinction. ==New evidence== Scientists have got new [[evidence]], based on new and better ways of finding dates, using [[Optical dating|optically stimulated luminescence]] and [[Uranium-thorium dating]] of megafaunal bones. This suggests that humans were the main cause of the extinction of megafauna in Au