Australia was once home to megafauna, extraordinary animals that roamed the land for thousands of years before disappearing around 42,000 years ago. To unravel this enigma, a team of paleo sleuths embarks on a perilous journey through the underwater passages of Tank Cave in South Australia.
Amongst the bones in the ‘bone room,’ they discover the upper tooth of Thylacoleo, Australia’s deadliest ancient marsupial predator. Dr. Aaron Camens investigates Thylacoleo’s impressive jaws and teeth, recreating bite marks to test their force.
Dr. Gilbert Price sheds light on Megalania, a 6-meter-long land lizard, and Dr. Scott Hocknull presents fossil evidence of Megalania and other predatory megafauna, raising questions about human involvement in their extinction.
The collaboration between Adnyamathanha elders and Flinders University researchers offers a new perspective on interpreting fossil evidence, contributing to our understanding of extinction in the face of the current mass extinction event.
Megafauna: What Killed Australia’s Giants?, Series 1, Final Episode airs Tuesday, July 2, at 8.00 pm on ABC, with both episodes available for streaming on ABC iview.
