Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Hungry snakes, giant kangaroos, bat noses, and more

Giant kangaroo (Michael Long / NHMPL)

smithsonian.com
August 31, 2009

Didn't Hop Fast Enough

After people first arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago, the giant kangaroo, Procoptodon goliah, became extinct. In a new study, researchers in Australia and the U.S. rule out climate change and fire as the cause: the seven-foot-tall marsupial ate shrubs that could withstand drought and burning. Instead, human hunters likely wiped out the creatures.

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