Diprotodon
| Diprotodon | ||||||||||||
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Diprotodon skeleton |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Pleistocene | ||||||||||||
| 1.81 million years to 45,000 years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Diprotodon | ||||||||||||
| Owen , 1838 | ||||||||||||
Diprotodon is an extinct genus of mammals and the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. Its closest relatives are the wombats . Like these, it belonged to the order Diprotodontia . The genus died out in the wake of an extinction wave at the end of the Pleistocene along with numerous other large Australian mammals.
Appearance
On the surface they resembled hornless rhinos . Claws on the feet suggest they likely dug for roots. Features of the skull indicate a short trunk. The largest species Diprotodon optatum (giant wombat ) reached a shoulder height of up to 2 m, a body length of over 3 m and a weight of up to 2786 kg; Diprotodon minor was about a third smaller.
distribution
Diprotodon fossil remains have been found all over Australia , particularly in the south of the continent, with the exception of Tasmania . However, the species is documented on King Island , which is close to Tasmania. The best-known finds of Diprotodons come from the salt marshes of the Callabonna Salt Lake in southern Australia, where they were discovered together with thunderbirds . Diprotodons lived 1.6 million years ago in the Pleistocene and became extinct about 45,000 to 25,000 years ago. Two species coexisted in the late Pleistocene, but while Diprotodon optatum was found almost everywhere in Australia, Diprotodon minor appears to have been restricted to the southeastern part.
Diet and Lifestyle
Diprotodon was a herbivore that probably ate leaves, twigs, bark and roots. Most likely he lived on rough and prickly plants. From well-preserved stomach contents of finds at Lake Callabonnasee it is known that Diprotodon ate salt herbs ( Salsola ) and other foxtail plants . The animals probably inhabited mainly open bushland and savannah areas. Since several skeletons have been found together, it is believed that they lived in groups. They were marsupials, the pouches of which opened to the rear like the wombats . One of the predators of Diprotodon was probably Megalania .
die out
The last Diprotodons disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene, roughly at the same time as climate change and the first appearance of humans in Australia. It is still controversial today whether humans are responsible for the disappearance of the Diprotodons. For a long time, rapid climate change at the end of the last glacial period was blamed for this. The warming shifted the precipitation zones, the glaciers melted and the sea level rose. Some scientists argue that many animal species, including the diprotodons, could not adapt quickly enough to the new environmental conditions.
literature
- Paul S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson Ariz 1984, 1989, ISBN 0-8165-1100-4 .
- Arno H. Müller: Textbook of paleozoology. Vol. 3. Vertebrates. Part 3 Mammalia. 2nd Edition. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1989, ISBN 3-334-00223-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ice Age Marsupial Topped Three Tons, Scientists Say . Retrieved September 17, 2003.
- ↑ Stephen Wroe, Judith Field: A review of the evidence for a human role in the extinction of Australian megafauna and an alternative interpretation . In: Quaternary Science Reviews . tape 25 , no. 21-22 , November 2006, pp. 2692–2703 , doi : 10.1016 / j.quascirev.2006.03.005 ( elsevier.com [accessed May 27, 2020]).