Giant wombat mass grave found

Giant wombat mass grave found

Wombats might have a reputation as comical, clumsy creatures - but you would not be laughing if you came across an oversized, 2.8-tonne version.
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Australian scientists unveiled the biggest-ever graveyard of an ancient rhino-sized mega-wombat called diprotodon, with the site potentially holding valuable clues on the species' extinction.

The remote fossil deposit in outback Queensland state is thought to contain up to 50 diprotodon skeletons including a huge specimen named Kenny, whose jawbone alone is 70 centimetres (28 inches) long.
Lead scientist on the dig, Scott Hocknull from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, said Kenny was one of the largest diprotodons he had ever seen and one of the best preserved specimens.

Pigeon-toed and with a backward-facing pouch large enough to carry an adult human, Hocknull likened diprotodon to 'a cross between a wombat and a bear but the size of a rhinoceros'.

Well I never knew just how big they got. They were an interesting creature to say the least. I've been researching mega-fauna extinctions and came across this one and thought some here would appreciate the story.

I'm kicking the idea around about writing a thread on this topic.

i saw this yesterday, and thought i'd seen it on ats but apparently not! my one and only true chance for an original thread passed me by! never mind, love your threads slayer!

Find me a giant porcupine and I will be impressed.

reply to post by ladyteeny


slaaayyyer!!!!!!!! oooohhhh yyyaaaaaaaayyyyyyyeerr!!!!!!!!

nice nice find broski !

reply to post by ladyteeny


I just posted one on a woolly mammoth site just found in Russia. Great stuff. It's good to know there are others who find this as interesting as I do. Next time, just jump right in and post the story if you've done the search and found nothing already posted that is

Originally posted by boncho
Find me a giant porcupine and I will be impressed.

Oh come on. Look at that thing. That's pretty large, ugly and has cool written all over it.

I wonder if they all died at the same time?

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by ladyteeny

 

I just posted one on a woolly mammoth site just found in Russia. Great stuff. It's good to know there are others who find this as interesting as I do. Next time, just jump right in and post the story if you've done the search and found nothing already posted that is

it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be on ats already... besides, you're so much better at thread posting... i'm happy to leave it to the expert!

reply to post by LadyTrick



What I'm looking for are mass die off events.

If I'm not mistaken I think Australia's mega-fauna died out sooner than North Americas and Eurasia for some reason. I could be wrong.

reply to post by SLAYER69


God put them there to fake us out.

reply to post by SLAYER69


They are not wombats, they are an extinct genus called Diprotodons that were a about the size of a bear, they were herbivores and were also the largest known marsupial species to have ever existed!!!!

reply to post by CrimsonKapital


Cool.
Thanks for the clarification.
I wonder if the writers of the article know that?

Originally posted by LadyTrick
I wonder if they all died at the same time?

Yes the Australian megafauna roughly all died off about 30,000 years ago, this is largely attributed to the Aboriginals who hunted with fire extensively. The Aboriginals burned down so much of the interior woodlands that vast swathes of Australia became uninhabitable and almost all of Australia's megafauna was wiped out.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by CrimsonKapital

 

Cool.
Thanks for the clarification.
I wonder if the writers of the article know that?

Haha too easy, nah they probably don't, they just see some big cuddly animal and call it a wombat to gain attention.

But yeah I have read A LOT about prehistoric Australia, I know a lot about the Ediacaran period and the Paleozoic Era. The Cenozoic Era doesn't interest me that much because its basically todays animals except bigger, but I know a lot about Mesozoic Australia and its what interests me most.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by LadyTrick

 

What I'm looking for are mass die off events.

If I'm not mistaken I think Australia's mega-fauna died out sooner than North Americas and Eurasia for some reason. I could be wrong.

My understanding is that a great deal of them went extinct when man arrived because they were using bushfire hunting techniques. The whole ecology was wiped out, (along with earlier people).

Some species lived on for 10,000 years more as they could be farmed.

Originally posted by CrimsonKapital
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

They are not wombats, they are an extinct genus called Diprotodons that were a about the size of a bear, they were herbivores and were also the largest known marsupial species to have ever existed!!!!

They are in the same family though.

I was going through pages and pages of wombat material to formulate a post and you killed my planned clarification.

Damn you.

reply to post by LadyTrick


The Australian megafaunal extinctions occurred around 50,000 years ago - coincidently around the time humans became established on the continent, though it's not yet proven that human activity was primarily responsible.

Most extinctions of larger species in most parts of the world do seem to coincide with the arrival of humans, Africa being the big exception (it was the later arrival of Europeans that started the (near) extictions there).

reply to post by bowtomonkey


Such as?

Any links to reputable articles/sites on the topic?

Anything would be appreciated.

From your link , this story also stood out
www.heraldsun.com.au...
"Aussie police on hunt after 42kg mayonnaise heist"
maybe no connection or someones having a BBQ

reply to post by CrimsonKapital


Sure but is still basicly a wombat just bigger in size.
So it's it correct saying they died out or today it's basicly the same creature, just smaller / adopted etc?
Like Megalodon is really just a Great White but in a certain time, conditions allowed to grow it even greater..




But I always find it amazing anyways that animals became so big for some reason.
That's why I also believe there must have been giant people, or at least a really good possibilty.
If most animals got large suddenly, why we not the same?