The absence of humans in New Guinea contributed to the ‘megafaunal’ kangaroo living longer than its Australian equivalent.
A four-legged giant kangaroo that formerly roamed Papua New Guinea may have lived as recently as 20,000 years ago,The fresh analysis indicates the kangaroo lived long after other large-bodied 'megafauna' on mainland Australia went extinct and underscores the significance of the use of modern analytical techniques to confirm timelines of life on Earth.Megafauna bones from the prolific Nombe Rock Shelter fossil site reveal an unexpected survivalFlinders Universitysite in Chimbu Province.
Surprisingly, two sizable extinct kangaroo species, one of which bounded on four legs rather than two, may have survived in the area for 40,000 years longer., Prof. Tim Denham, co-leader of the new study reveals, "If these megafaunal species did indeed survive in the PNG Highlands for much longer than their Australian equivalents, then it may have been because people only visited the Nombe area infrequently and in low numbers until after 20,000 years ago.
The latest Nombe study, according to study co-author Professor Gavin Prideaux of the Flinders University Palaeontology Laboratory, is consistent with earlier research from Kangaroo Island. Such research also suggests megafaunal kangaroos may have survived until about 20,000 years ago in some of the more remote regions of the continent.
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