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Nature 454, 835-836 (14 August 2008) | doi:10.1038/454835a; Published online 13 August 2008

Palaeontology: The last giant kangaroo

Jared Diamond1

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Humans who colonized Australia did not reach Tasmania until thousands of years later — granting the island's giant kangaroos a brief respite before they joined their Australian brethren in oblivion.

Many of the world's biggest animals (the megafauna) became extinct in the latter part of the last ice age, which ended around 14,000 years ago. That realization triggered two long-standing debates1.

  1. Jared Diamond is in the Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1524, USA.
    Email: jdiamond@geog.ucla.edu

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