Megafauna

Australia: The Land Where Time Began

At the time when the rest of the continents were populated by a megafauna comprised of placental mammals, Australian had a marsupial megafauna, as well some of the largest known flightless birds of all time from anywhere in the world, and the biggest ever lizard, the giant monitor, Megalania prisca.

A feature of the Australian megafauna that distinguishes it from the megafauna elsewhere in the world is the relative paucity of predators. Among the megafauna were only a few carnivores, the marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), the giant monitor (Megalania prisca), the thylacine (Thylacinus), only about the size of a dog, and apparently the only cursorial predator present, the others appearing to be comparatively lumbering, as were most of their prey. Even the giant kangaroos are believed to have move much slower than their present day kangaroos and wallabies. Also lurking in the bush in earlier times was what is believed to have been possibly a terrestrial crocodile (Quinkana fortirostrum), of medium size, about 200 kg, that had teeth similar to those of carnivorous dinosaurs. There was also a very large riverine crocodile (Pallimnarchus pollens). A petroglyph found at the Panarammitti North site in the Olary area of South Australia bears a strong resemblance to the skull of Q. fortirostrum. The petroglyph is now in the South Australian Museum. Great age can be inferred for this petroglyph by the thick layer of desert varnish covering it.