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.
13 Articles
13 Articles
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…
Scientists May Have Been Wrong About Giant Kangaroos
Despite their enormous size, giant ancient kangaroos may have been capable of hopping in short, powerful bursts. Ancient relatives of today’s kangaroos, some of which may have weighed as much as 250 kilograms (550 pounds), might not have been as limited in their movement as scientists once believed. New research published today (January 22) in [...]
Giant Kangaroo Fossils Reveal a Surprise About How They Moved
The image of kangaroos hopping their way across the Australian outback is iconic – and it turns out it might have been an even more impressive sight during the Pleistocene. A new study by researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Bristol in the UK, and the University of Melbourne in Australia, has calculated that giant kangaroos, estimated to be more than twice as heavy as their modern descendants, could also hop if they needed to. As …
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 89% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
