Ancient & Modern Weirdness

Australia is a fascinating place. They have exotic animals not seen anywhere else and do research on dingo urine (check one of my previous posts). Now Australia gets more exotic and fascinating.

Palaeontologists are digging in northern Australia and have found fossil evidence of at least 20 previous unknown creatures. The team from the University of New South Wales are currently digging in the north-west part of the state of Queensland, in the Riversleigh fossil fields. Professor Mike Archer has said that the dig has turned up:

truly extraordinary material

I dare say they are correct. One of the fossil finds they are calling a "killer kangaroo". They estimate that this flesh-eating marsupial is estimated to have lived between 10 to 20 million years ago. And is it suggested that these killer kangaroos would not be like the kangaroos of today.

In an Australian newspaper, Professor Archer is quoted as saying:

There were meat-eating kangaroos with long fangs, and galloping kangaroos with long forearms, which could not hop.

But it doesn't stop there. Palaeontologist Sue Hand, who is also part of the dig, told Australian radion of another find. There is another potentially frightening creature there, as she said:

Very big birds... More like ducks, earned the name demon ducks of doom, some at least may have been carnivorous.

Obviously there are plans to study the fossils in detail, so they can learn more about these species. And in time, they hope to determine what effect the changing of the climate over time in Australia affected their development.

As I read this, an old Bugs Bunny episode came to mind. One of my favorite characters is Marvin the Martian (where's the kaboom, there was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom). In one episode he zaps Bugs with a devolution beam, turning him into a Neanderthal bunny. Who is large & threatening and can eat metal.

The image of the two ancient species just sounds so strange. Kangaroos with fangs, Demon ducks. And people thought dinosaurs were scary. Just think of it, kangaroos with fangs and longer forearms. In a herd, galloping toward you. And with demon ducks hover over you. Thing is, if someone wrote this, people would dismiss it as silly. Kangaroos are cute and cuddly. Even if you add fangs to a picture of one, they don't look scary.

Actually, this might be a boon for PETA. They want us to become vegetarians and stop wearing animal skins. Look how the kangaroo evolved. It was once a nasty carnivorous animal, hunting poor innocent smaller animals. But over time, they have become cute, herbivores. The kangaroo could become a mascot for them. If kangaroos can do it, so can we.

Just think of it. The ads can show a cute kangaroo & have a byline like: They evolved, why don't you? This is more soothing than showing gory pictures or throwing red paint on people wearing fur. Pamela Anderson could run around with a stuffed kangaroo. They could merchanize stuffed kangaroos, getting more money.

Maybe this find might start a new trend. Or maybe a scene in a planned Dr. Who novel. The mind boggles.