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  • Seasonal migration of marsupial megafauna in Pleistocene Sahul (Australia–New Guinea)

    Author(s)
    Price, Gilbert J
    Ferguson, Kyle J
    Webb, Gregory E
    Feng, Yue-xing
    Higgins, Pennilyn
    Ai, Duc Nguyen
    Zhao, Jian-xin
    Joannes-Boyau, Renaud
    Louys, Julien
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Louys, Julien
    Year published
    2017
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    Seasonal two-way migration is an ecological phenomenon observed in a wide range of large-bodied placental mammals, but is conspicuously absent in all modern marsupials. Most extant marsupials are typically smaller in body size in comparison to their migratory placental cousins, possibly limiting their potential to undertake long-distance seasonal migrations. But what about earlier, now-extinct giant marsupial megafauna? Here we present new geochemical analyses which show that the largest of the extinct marsupial herbivores, the enormous wombat-like Diprotodon optatum, undertook seasonal, two-way latitudinal migration in ...
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    Seasonal two-way migration is an ecological phenomenon observed in a wide range of large-bodied placental mammals, but is conspicuously absent in all modern marsupials. Most extant marsupials are typically smaller in body size in comparison to their migratory placental cousins, possibly limiting their potential to undertake long-distance seasonal migrations. But what about earlier, now-extinct giant marsupial megafauna? Here we present new geochemical analyses which show that the largest of the extinct marsupial herbivores, the enormous wombat-like Diprotodon optatum, undertook seasonal, two-way latitudinal migration in eastern Sahul (Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea). Our data infer that this giant marsupial had the potential to perform round-trip journeys of as much as 200 km annually, which is reminiscent of modern East African mammal migrations. These findings provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence for repetitive seasonal migration in any metatherian (including marsupials), living or extinct, and point to an ecological phenomenon absent from the continent since the Late Pleistocene.
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    Journal Title
    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    Volume
    284
    Issue
    1863
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0785
    Subject
    Biological sciences
    Archaeology
    Geology
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/355580
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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