Weighing up to 170 kilos

Fossilized remains of giant kangaroo discovered

The lower jaw of a Protemnodon viator (top) compared to that of a red giant kangaroo (bottom)

(Bild: Flinders University)

Researchers have discovered the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of giant kangaroo in a dry salt lake in southern Australia. The animal, which became extinct around 40,000 years ago, was twice the size of the largest marsupial living today, the red giant kangaroo.

The fossil remains of the giant kangaroo, which the researchers have given the Latin name Protemnodon viator (the second part of the name comes from the Latin and means "traveler" or "wanderer"; note), were found in Lake Callabona, a dry salt lake in the north-east of the Australian state of South Australia.

Since an almost completely preserved skeleton (see picture below) was found, the palaeontologists can also say more about its way of life and how the animal moved around. The species inhabited habitats similar to those of the red giant kangaroo today, and its long legs would have helped the animal to jump efficiently and quickly, the researchers report.

(Bild: Flinders University, Krone KREATIV)

Animal died out around 40,000 years ago
According to the scientists from Flinders University in Adelaide, the giant kangaroo, which weighed up to 170 kilograms and was therefore three times heavier than the red giant kangaroo, lived between 500,000 and 40,000 years ago. It is unclear why the species became extinct and to what extent this may have been linked to the arrival of the first human settlers.

While it was previously assumed that most giant kangaroos moved on all four legs, researchers are now certain that this only applied to three or four species, according to the Guardian.