Kangaroos and jumping go hand in hand. But that wasn’t always the case.
During the Pleistocene era, which spanned roughly 2.6 million years ago to only about 11,700 years ago, kangaroos were gigantic. In fact, they were such beefy beasts that archaeologists assumed they wouldn’t be able to jump. Some species, like Procoptodon goliah, stood around 2 meters tall and weighed up to 250 kilograms. That’s like a refrigerator with muscles.
Well, a new study suggests that the assumption was wrong.
Ancient Kangaroos Were Enormous, but Hopping Was Still on the Menu
Researchers from the Universities of Manchester, Bristol, and Melbourne, who published in Scientific Reports, analyzed the limb bones of 63 kangaroo and wallaby species, both living and extinct. They used 94 modern specimens and 40 fossils. Their goal was to figure out whether these massive marsupials could hop without their legs snapping in half.
Using modern kangaroos as a baseline, the team estimated how thick and strong the Achilles tendons of giant kangaroos would have needed to be to survive hopping. They then examined fossilized heel bones to see whether there were attachment points capable of anchoring tendons of that size. They also measured the fourth metatarsals, which take the most punishment during hopping, to check whether they could withstand the bending forces involved.
The answer was yes. These kangaroo behemoths, covered in muscles, were theoretically roughly as springy as modern-day kangaroos. Ancient kangaroos had sturdy heel bones to support massive tendons and foot bones strong enough to withstand the stress. Anatomically speaking, they were built for hopping.
The keyword here is theoretically. Just because they show all the signs of being able to support their own heavyweight doesn’t mean they actually were bounding across the desert all day. The researchers suggest that hopping was likely a situational move used for short bursts to escape danger or to navigate rough terrain. Walking was likely still their default mode of traversal.
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