| Title | Scientists Find New Markers To Identify Species From Fragments Of Fossilized Bone | |
| Date | Monday June 09, @07:27AM | |
| Author | mrpg | |
| Topic | ||
| from the mega-giga-tera-peta-exa dept. | ||
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
What happened to all the megafauna? From moas to mammoths, many large animals went extinct between 50 and 10,000 years ago. Learning why could provide crucial evidence about prehistoric ecosystems and help us understand future potential extinctions. But surviving fossils are often too fragmented to determine the original species, and DNA is not always recoverable, especially in hot or damp environments.
Now scientists have isolated collagen peptide markers which allow them to identify three key megafauna that were once present across Australia: a hippo-sized wombat, a giant kangaroo, and a marsupial with enormous claws.
"The geographic range and extinction date of megafauna in Australia, and potential interaction with early modern humans, is a hotly debated topic," said Professor Katerina Douka of the University of Vienna, senior author of the article in Frontiers in Mammal Science.
"The low number of fossils that have been found at paleontological sites across the country means that it is difficult to test hypotheses about why these animals became extinct," explained first author Dr. Carli Peters of the University of Algarve.
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