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When killer kangaroos roamed the earth
Reuters via MSNBC ^
| 7/12/06
| Various
Posted on 7/12/2006, 8:03:51 PM by JR0tten
SYDNEY, Australia - Forget cute, cuddly marsupials. Paleontologists say they have found the fossilized remains of a fanged killer kangaroo and what they describe as a "demon duck of doom."
A University of New South Wales team said the fearsome fossils were among 20 previously unknown species uncovered at a site in Australia's northwest Queensland state.
Professor Michael Archer said Wednesday that the remains of a meat-eating kangaroo with wolflike fangs were found, as well as a galloping kangaroo with long forearms that could not hop like a modern kangaroo. "Because they didn't hop, these were galloping kangaroos, with big, powerful forelimbs. Some of them had long canines (fangs) like wolves," Archer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Vertebrate paleontologist Sue Hand said modern kangaroos look almost nothing like their ferocious forebears, which lived between 10 million and 20 million years ago.
The species found at the dig had "well muscled-in teeth, not for grazing. These things had slicing crests that could have crunched through bone and sliced off flesh," Hand said.
The team also found prehistoric lungfish and large ducklike birds.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: fossils; godsgravesglyphs; history; kangaroo; science
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1
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:03:53 PM
by
JR0tten
To: PatrickHenry
demon duck of doom ping
2
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:08:27 PM
by
js1138
(Well I say there are some things we don't want to know! Important things!")
To: JR0tten
demon duck of doom.....
3
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:08:58 PM
by
xcamel
(Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
To: JR0tten
"Killer kangaroos" are still around. They are called "Tasmanian devils", a small carnivore that happens to be a marsupial, and probably are the next meanest animal in the world after a wolverine.
The "Tasmanian wolf", now extinct, only superficially resembled a wolf, but it showed its heritage when compared to living kangaroos.
To: JR0tten
I remember when one-eyed monkey cats enslaved dogs.
5
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:14:54 PM
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: JR0tten
"Lord Love A Duck"
Molly Mauk
6
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:15:12 PM
by
HuntsvilleTxVeteran
("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
To: JR0tten
SYDNEY, Australia - Forget cute, cuddly marsupials. Paleontologists say they have found the fossilized remains of a fanged killer kangaroo and what they describe as a "demon duck of doom." Sounds like Jimmy Carter's ultimate bad acid trip...
7
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:16:50 PM
by
tomzz
To: JR0tten
8
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:18:10 PM
by
HEY4QDEMS
(Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.)
To: HEY4QDEMS
9
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:19:30 PM
by
Dead Corpse
(It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.- Aeschylus)
To: JR0tten
Ok, that is just too cool!
To: JR0tten
Big deal. Here in Michigan we had the extinct Giant Beaver. You've heard of a man eating beaver - well here's a beaver eating a man:
11
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:23:11 PM
by
Tokra
(I think I'll retire to Bedlam.)
To: JR0tten
More than coincidence? You decide...
To: Lazamataz
"demon duck of doom."Why does this make me think of you?? I really don't know, but there it is.
To: Tokra
Geeez... I thought that was one of those "union rats" off on vacation...
(of course, I realize that the words "union" and "rat" are synonyms)
14
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:27:22 PM
by
xcamel
(Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
To: Dead Corpse
Great picture -- I had forgotten about Tank Girl until I saw your post!
To: Tokra
You've heard of a man eating beaver ...Yes. Yes I have. But as I am a gentleman, I will refrain from commenting further.
wink wink nudge nudge ;-)
16
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:29:21 PM
by
uglybiker
(Don't blame me. I didn't make you stupid.)
To: JR0tten
Are they sure they put that thing back together right? It looks like it would be stabbing itself half the time.
Archer said the team was studying the fossils to better understand how they were affected by changing climates in the Miocene epoch between 5 million and 24 million years ago.
It would appear that the climatic changes really pissed them off and made them mean.
17
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:30:32 PM
by
xJones
To: JR0tten
That's definitely a reason to tie me kangaroo down, mate.
18
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:31:00 PM
by
GAB-1955
(being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Kingdom of Heaven....)
To: pabianice
I don't know...the top picture is kind of pretty. ;)
To: JR0tten
"northwest Queensland state"
Queensland is in the North East.
20
posted on
7/12/2006, 8:36:01 PM
by
Boiler Plate
(Mom always said why be difficult, when with just a little more effort you can be impossible.)
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