Extinct giant kangaroos tiptoed one leg at a time
Fossil clues suggest refrigerator-sized sthenurines did not hop
By Susan Milius
The real hulks among extinct kangaroos probably didn’t hop. They tiptoed on one rear leg at a time, a new study says.
As recently as 30,000 years ago, the kangaroo genealogical tree had a now-extinct branch called Sthenurinae. Members of this subfamily ranged from small to whopper, with the largest weighing up to 240 kilograms. That’s a bit more than a typical full-sized fridge and far heavier than today’s biggest kangaroos, red males that bulk up to 90 kilograms.