{"id":211771,"date":"2025-01-09T19:57:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/09\/humans-not-climate-change-may-have-wiped-out-australias-giant-kangaroos\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T19:57:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:57:56","slug":"humans-not-climate-change-may-have-wiped-out-australias-giant-kangaroos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/09\/humans-not-climate-change-may-have-wiped-out-australias-giant-kangaroos\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans, not climate change, may have wiped out Australia\u2019s giant kangaroos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Humans,<\/div> \r\n

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The demise of most of Australia\u2019s kangaroo species by 40,000 years ago may have had less to do with climate-caused dietary pressures and more to do with human hunters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dental analyses of ancient kangaroos reveal they weren\u2019t such picky eaters as once thought<\/a>, researchers report in the Jan. 10 Science<\/em>. Instead, when it came to climate-related changes in food availability, the animals might have rolled with the punches, the scientists suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 65,000 and 40,000 years ago, more than 90 percent of Australia\u2019s large animal species went extinct<\/a>. Over half were kangaroos. The primary suspects behind these extinctions were thought to be human hunters<\/a>, who had arrived sometime between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago, and rapid changes in the climate<\/a>, which may have dramatically reduced the animals\u2019 dietary options.<\/p>\n\n\n