jesspy Posted July 12, 2006 #1 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Killer kangaroo, demon duck of doom roamed Outback SYDNEY (Reuters) - Forget cute, cuddly marsupials. A team of Australian palaeontologists say they have found the fossilised remains of a fanged killer kangaroo and what they describe as a "demon duck of doom". A University of New South Wales team said the fearsome fossils were among 20 previously unknown species uncovered at a site in northwest Queensland state. Professor Michael Archer said on Wednesday the remains of a meat-eating kangaroo with wolf-like fangs were found as well as a galloping kangaroo with long forearms that could not hop like a modern kangaroo. "Because they didn't hop, these were galloping kangaroos, with big, powerful forelimbs. Some of them had long canines (fangs) like wolves," Archer told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. Vertebrate palaeontologist Sue Hand said modern kangaroos look almost nothing like their ferocious forebears, which lived between 10 million and 20 million years ago. The species found at the dig had "well muscled-in teeth, not for grazing. These things had slicing crests that could have crunched through bone and sliced off flesh", Hand said. The team also found prehistoric lungfish and large duck-like birds. "Very big birds ... more like ducks, earned the name 'demon duck of doom', some at least may have been carnivorous as well," Hand told ABC radio. Archer said the team was studying the fossils to better understand how they were affected by changing climates in the Miocene epoch between 5 million and 24 million years ago. link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogfish Posted July 12, 2006 #2 Share Posted July 12, 2006 They might not have been ducks, but water birds...I would love to see how those Roos look.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian McMalley Posted July 12, 2006 #3 Share Posted July 12, 2006 And I thought today's Kangaroos were dangerous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivytheplant Posted August 13, 2006 #4 Share Posted August 13, 2006 (edited) Ye gads! Here I was worrying about a sequel to Kangaroo Jack invading and now there's vicious kangaroos with a taste for flesh! I have a good picture in my head from what they've described, but I'd really love to see one. Dead and fossilized of course. I guess none of us will look at kangaroos the same way again. $15 says the SciFi channel will make a horrible movie about a rampaging killer kangaroo. Thanks for posting the article! Edited August 13, 2006 by ivytheplant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copyright Posted August 26, 2006 #5 Share Posted August 26, 2006 demon ducks of doom, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivytheplant Posted August 27, 2006 #6 Share Posted August 27, 2006 That would make a great band name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Nyx_ Posted August 27, 2006 #7 Share Posted August 27, 2006 A killer kangaroo is something I'd like to see... Demon Duck of Doom... that does make a great logo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurrikane Posted August 31, 2006 #8 Share Posted August 31, 2006 A killer kangaroo is something I'd like to see... Demon Duck of Doom... that does make a great logo... Kangaroo's do kill, they're just not predatory animals... I'd love to see the fossils of these creatures and learn more about them, I wonder how they died out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDaddy_GFS Posted September 6, 2006 #9 Share Posted September 6, 2006 (edited) If you had a killer roo, with powerful forelimbs, that galloped instead of hopped, it would have looked rather like the classic werewolf design. Crackey! Edited September 6, 2006 by BigDaddy_GFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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