#573 The Terror-Roo

 Fact# 573

The Terror-Roo

… Let's be honest, with a Theme like “The Extinct MegaFauna of Australia” you all knew I was going to cover Kangaroos at some point. Thus I’ll try to be quick and hop right to into the facts:

Sthenurine (Which I’m calling S-Roo for brevity), better known as “The Short Faced Kangaroo” was a subfamily of Macropodidae making them close relatives with The modern Red Kangaroo. In fact they actually coexisted for much of their time as Reds are Grazers (eating Grasses and smaller shrubs), while The S-Roo were Browsers preferring leaves, new stalks, and Fruit. Yet not all was sunshine and rainbows.

S-Roos were about 3x the size to reach the trees and needed open bodies of water to drink from, rather than getting what they needed from grass like Red Roos. To help protect them in these endeavors they were armed with two large claws in either paw, but notably had issues with jumping and kicking, as it’s been noted on most samples collected that where their Tendons would connect to bones on their legs, always seem to show signs of wear and injury, meaning they’d likely only use hopping or kicking as a last desperate hope. Which is likely why their hips are unlike any other marsupial, having instead evolved to be closer to that of apes for walking around upright (broader hips and ankles to resist twisting, bigger glutes, and a stiffer lower spine) –albeit digitigrade as they still walked on their toes only. Yet in spite of their odd appearance, they are home to the largest animal to Hop, “Procoptodon Goliah”  at around 6.6 feet tall. 

Eventually, as the Trees receded and pools of water became less common, S-Roos had trouble getting enough to drink and thus over time slowly died off from thirst. 

WIth that, we are wrapped up for the week, although we didnt get to Talk about Terror Birds, Zygomatrus (marsupial Rinos), Megapodes, Palorchestes (another type of Roo), Meiolania (Armoured Turtle with a club tail), or the Wonambi (giant Snake). I guess I guess you’ll have to look them up on your own. 

In any case thank you for reading and please have a wonderful weekend. 

Comparison of a Goliah Roo compared with a Human.