Marsupial Giants, and Other Discoveries

The

Published by the Peter Underwood Centre June 8, 2020

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Marsupial CAPTIVE: The only emus to be found in Tasmania now are on giants, POO farms and in wildlife parks. Pictures: iStock/ GlobalP/ JackF and other discoveries IMAGINE Kangaroos twice as tall as humans and goannas 6- metres long. Well if you haven’t heard CLUES already, these large animals, or mega fauna, once existed in DID you know that emus once wide and their poo is full of Tristan Australia. roamed wild in Tasmania? seed, so if we still had them in said he Scientists studying fossils found Tasmania our landscape only found In fact emus were spread in central Queensland, would be quite different, out a few throughout the Midlands, North recently revealed that the perhaps better. years ago -East and North-West. first people who lived in when a friend After coexisting with Aboriginal Matt said by looking at what the area also shared told him. people for 40,000 years, it is emus in Victoria eat, the the land with mega- believed the early colonists scientists can consider what “I went and read a reptiles, a giant may have hunted them to Tasmanian emus might have lot of old diaries bucktoothed extinction. eaten and what seeds they and reports from the wombat, and a may have dispersed. early colonists and I three-tonne But other factors, such as was fascinated to marsupial called a changes to their habitat, may “Wilsons Promontory has discover that emus were Diprotodon. not have helped either. similar vegetation to North- really important to them, East Tasmania,” he said. But did you know The last of Tasmania’s emu especially as food,” he said. died in captivity in 1873. “We are finding that emus fossils of giant basically eat anything. “They were also important to mammals have also been It is interesting to think about Aboriginal people in Tasmania, found in Tasmania? “We are finding thousands of what Tasmania’s environment who managed the landscape seeds from at least 30 species A complete skeleton of a would be like if wild emus still so there would always be of plants.” Zygomaturus trilobus was existed here. emus. found at “Mowbray Swamp”, Researchers at the University One interesting find was the “Aboriginal people painted near Smithton. of Tasmania, Tristan Derham seed from a type of kangaroo emus, carved emu images into apple called Solanun opacum. It is the second largest and Matthew Fielding, want to rocks, sang about them and marsupial ever known to have know the answer to that “This species is widespread on did emu dances.” question and many others, and existed behind Diprotodon, and the mainland but has It is believed Tasmanian emu they are trying to find out by a close relative. experienced declines across were a bit smaller, but in most studying emu poo. Zygomaturus weighed about Tasmania, potentially a result other ways were very similar to 500 kilograms, was 1.5m tall Not Tasmanian emu poo, but of the extinction of the their mainland relatives, which and 2.5m long. poo from emus in Wilsons Tasmanian emu,” Matt said. makes you wonder what Promontory, in Victoria. Growing up, neither Tristan nor might happen if emus were It became extinct about 45,000 Emus help plants to spread, Matt knew there were reintroduced? years ago. because they roam far and Tasmanian emu. Continued Page 2 Continued Page 2 “Education perhaps more than anything else is a passport to a better life.” - Peter Underwood AC June 8, 2020 The Wonder Weekly P2 Emu poo Your challenge clues to provide answers

is to find a fossil From Page 1 Tristan and Matt wonder that From Page 1 too, but they know Fossil Bluff, near Wynyard, in reintroducing an animal North-West Tasmania, has that anywhere is a very big name for a reason. decision. The fossilised bones of another Tristan said there were lots of extinct marsupial, Wynyardia questions to be answered. bassiana, were found there. “Would they make our Wynyardia was around about landscapes better? 23 million years ago, and was “Could we live alongside them similar to a possum, but much as fellow creatures? larger. An amazing find occurred on the Tasman Peninsula in 2007, when two people on a beach walk found the 250-million-year- old remains of a dicynodont. Dicynodonts had tusks more than 10 centimetres in length, a horny beak, were the size of a LINKS TO THE PAST: The Prosqualadon davidis fossil, main picture, and a cast of its skull, inset bull and were the ancestors of right. A fossil of a brachiopod , inset left. modern mammals. Of course, Tasmanian fossils Rock Library and Geological The rocks at Knocklofty are and Children’s University are not limited to mammals. Museum curator Isabella von part of a large area of rocks Tasmania learning There are many types Lichtan recently made a cast known as the Tasmanian destinations, TMAG and commonly found in areas all of its skull for the TV program Basin, which were formed QVMAG, have large around the state from animals Coast Australia on Foxtel’s when Tasmania (and the rest collections of fossils. SAMPLE: Matt Fielding with a and plants which existed before History Channel. of Australia) were joined to Have you ever found a fossil? dinosaurs. form a supercontinent called bag of emu poo. The remains of Your challenge is to have a Gondwana. In about 1920 the fossil of an Tasmaniosaurus, a primitive look at the rocks around you “We are interested in all those ancient whale, Prosqualadon reptile from which dinosaurs Tasmania has many marine next time you are out walking questions,” he added. davidis, was found by Professor evolved, was discovered in fossils from the Permian in the bush, by the river or at Matt said the emu poo T.T. Flynn, Professor of 1960 at the Knocklofty Period, 250-300 million years the beach. collected from Victoria was Zoology at the University of sandstone quarry in West ago. If you find what you think flown back to Hobart on Tasmania. Hobart. They are mainly coral-like or might be (or definitely is) a passenger airlines. It was described in The fan-shaped creatures called fossil, it would be best to Tasmaniosaurus was put on “We get some interesting Australian Museum Magazine in bryazoans, and shell animals leave it where it is. public display for the first time reactions when we check-in a 1923, as “one of the finest called brachiopods. at last year’s Dinoaur But take a photo or draw a box full of emu poo,” he said. fossils yet discovered”. rEvolution at the Tasmanian But there have also been picture of the find, and keep a Once at the lab in Hobart, the Prosqualadon was an Museum and Art Gallery many fossils found of record of where you found it, poo is put through sieves and extremely fierce fish-feeder with (TMAG). arthropods, large amphibians, and remember to share your the seeds are picked out and shark-like serrated teeth. fish and reptiles from the interesting finds with us: It dates back to the Early dried for further analysis. The remains of are kept at the Triassic Period - up to 250 Triassic Period. UnderwoodCentre.Enquiries It is believed emus lived in University of Tasmania. million years ago. The University of Tasmania, @utas.edu.au Tasmania for more than 135,000 years.

Solution to penguin challenge LAST week you were challenged to identify the world’s two smallest and largest penguins. Little blue penguins are the smallest, followed by Galapagos penguins. Emperor penguins are easily the largest, twice the weight of the next largest - king penguins.