Community & Business
16 August, 2021
The sort of roo you wouldn’t want to meet
The latest display installed by the Clifton Megafauna Group at the local Library features a life-sized photograph of a giant kangaroo - the sort of thing that would give you a fright on a dark night.
Megafauna Group members Dianne and Ian Sobbe, and Trish and Tony Wallen were at the Clifton Library on Friday placing new display in the foyer.
The dominant feature is a life-sized illustration of a giant kangaroo - the Short-Faced Sthenurine (Procoptodon goliah), a fossil of which was found in Clifton fossil deposits.
These animals commonly grew to a height of 2.1 to 2.3 metres although Ian Sobbe said a recent book by Michael Archer suggests that they could even have reached 2.5 metres.
The exhibit at the local Library portrays a 2.25 metre animal.
Mr Sobbe said the weight of the giant kangaroo at this size would have been an estimated 240 kilograms.
It would have roamed the local area approximately 100,000 years ago.
OTHER CAPTION:
Dianne and Ian Sobbe preparing a display case which provides some details of megafauna which roamed the local area.
