Make way for megamarsupials: the migration of Australia's extinct megafauna

Diprotodon was the largest marsupial ever to live. New evidence shows it migrated annually - and could make us reassess what we know of other extinct marsupials

Perhaps nowhere is the debate regarding the causes of megafaunal extinction more prominent than in Australia. During the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, a magnificent suite of giant marsupials (mammals who carry their young in a pouch), reptiles and birds roamed Australia, only to meet their demise at the end of the Pleistocene. Why these behemoths disappeared has been, and continues to be, the subject of extensive discussions.

Much of the debate revolves around the timings of megafaunal extinctions, the arrival and spread of modern humans in Australia, and the role of climate change. However, as reliable dates for many of the extinct species are lacking and the arrival of modern humans in Australia keeps getting pushed back in time, the debate remains far from being resolved. Therefore, some scientists argue that if we want to know what really happened, we need to step away from the dating game, and start looking more into biological and ecological variables that contributed to the megafaunal demise.