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Ancient Roo ‘too big to hop’

A giant kangaroo that lived in the Australian outback 100,000 years ago was too heavy to hop, scientists have revealed.

The extinct creature grew to up to 2.7 metres tall and weighed up to 300 kilograms, three times the size of modern-day kangaroos.

The ancient kangaroo had a rabbit-like face and would have struggled to elude human hunters because of its slow movement.

The scientists, who conducted a study of more than 140 kangaroo and wallaby skeletons, discovered the creature lacked special features required for rapid hopping like modern red and grey kangaroos.

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“I don’t think they could have gotten that large unless they were walking,” said lead researcher Professor Christine Janis, from Brown University in Providence, US.

Yet their bone structure indicated they had an upright posture and were able to support their weight on one foot at a time.

Their hands were poorly suited for moving on all fours, but adapted for foraging.

“People often interpret the behaviour of extinct animals as resembling that of the ones known today, but how would we interpret a giraffe or an elephant known only from the fossil record?” said Prof Janis.

“We need to consider that extinct animals may have been doing something different from any of the living forms, and the bony anatomy provides great clues.”

The research is reported in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

Whether or not reliance on walking rather than faster and more efficient hopping led to sthenurines becoming extinct about 30,000 years ago is unknown.

– with AAP

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