US EditionAncient Giant Kangaroos Could Hop to It when They Needed to, Hindlimb Study Suggests
- On January 22, Megan Jones and colleagues published in Scientific Reports that giant Pleistocene kangaroos could perform short bursts of hopping, based on fossil analysis.
- Given past scaling assumptions, the researchers tested foot bone and ankle tendon hypotheses, challenging previous studies suggesting giant kangaroos were too heavy to hop, Jones said, `Giant kangaroos, their motion, has been the subject of debate for a little bit now because they are so much larger than anything we have today,'.
- Using comparative measurements, the team measured fourth metatarsals, femur, tibia, and calcaneus from 94 modern and 40 fossil specimens of 63 macropod species, applying published body-mass estimates and tendon-size calculations.
- The authors conclude the study contests earlier weight-based limits and suggests hopping likely wasn't the primary locomotion but served short bursts to evade predators like Thylacoleo.
- Experts note the findings recast the kangaroo hop as an adaptable element within the macropod gait repertoire and prompt reassessment of Pleistocene ecological reconstructions and energy/locomotion models, Benjamin Kear of Upsala University said.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Science Daily
ecotopical.comAncient giant kangaroos could hop after all
Giant kangaroos that lived during the Ice Age may not have been as slow and grounded as once believed. A new study finds their leg bones and tendons were likely strong enough to support hopping, despite their massive size. Rather than traveling this way all the time, these animals may have relied on short bursts of hopping. This ability could have played a key role in escaping predators.
Fossils Reveal Ancient Giant Kangaroos Could Hop — But Only in Short Bursts
Learn more about ancient giant kangaroos and the previous research claiming they were too heavy to hop. A new study finds that hopping may have been one of the few movement methods for these ancient animals.
How Giant Kangaroos Moved Across Ancient Australia
Ancient kangaroos were huge. A modern kangaroo maxes out at 200 pounds, while some of their forebearers were as massive as 550 pounds. Given their size, paleontologists have analyzed whether the ancestors would have hopped in classic modern kangaroo style. The consensus from studies that have extrapolated body scaling proportions of modern kangaroos to ancient ones has been that their ankle and foot anatomy didn’t offer sufficient strength to pr…
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