Giant kangaroos bounce back from the past
Palaeontologists from Flinders University have described three unusual new species of giant fossil kangaroo from Australia and New Guinea, finding them more diverse in shape, range […]
Rock-wallaby bite size ‘packs a punch’
Australian rock-wallabies are ‘little Napoleons’ when it comes to compensating for small size, packing much more punch into their bite than larger relatives. Researchers from Flinders […]
Big birds of prey rise again
Australia’s only vulture, and a fearsome extinct eagle, are among the earliest recorded birds of prey from the Pleistocene period more than 50,000 years ago – […]
Lessons from our ancient past
The extinction of species as diverse as flesh-eating kangaroos, tree-climbing crocodiles and gigantic venomous lizards are just a few examples of the extraordinary prehistoric history of […]
Out on a limb – koala fossil fills 30m year gap
Koalas are endangered in much of Australia now but in in the past there were multiple species living across the continent. The discovery of an ancient […]
How climate changed tree-kangaroos
Tree-kangaroos today are found only in tropical forests of far northern Queensland and New Guinea, but new fossil research has revealed that giant tree-kangaroos were once […]
600m years of fossils in 3D
The new Virtual Australian Museum of Palaeontology (VAMP) offers free access to 600 million years of digital Australian fossils, from mysterious early lifeforms to gigantic extinct […]
Weird animals uncovered after 25m years
The discovery of an early wombat relative with a powerful bite and a possum with bizarre nut-cracker teeth helps fill in a lost part of a […]
Night Parrot’s ‘wonky’ head and big ears
Special cranial adaptations, including an asymmetrical ‘wonky’ skull and enlarged ears, may give the critically endangered ground-dwelling Night Parrot the edge it needs to make its […]