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Catalyst: Megafauna fossils

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Computer image of ancient megafauna roaming between trees
Catalyst: Megafauna fossils

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  9–10


Travel back in time in outback Australia and investigate the giant lumbering beasts of the past — the megafauna.

Visit a fossil site in Cuddie Springs, New South Wales, where megafauna bones have been discovered.

Explore the connection between Aboriginal peoples and megafauna, and theories for the extinction of Australia's giant beasts.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What are Australia's megafauna? Can you name or describe any examples? What might have caused them to die out? Did humans live during the time of the megafauna? What evidence would you expect archaeologists to find of the earliest indigenous people living in Australia?
  2. 2.Watch how the site at Cuddie Springs is excavated in layers. How is digging deeper through each layer going back in time? In the layer 27 to 36 thousand years ago, other than fossils what is found? Why does this lead Dr Judith Field to say that humans and megafauna existed side-by-side? Reflect on the connection Chris Boney (Bundoo) has to Cuddie Springs and what he hopes to find out.
  3. 3.Create a list of possible causes for megafauna extinction. One theory is the Blitzkreig hypothesis; that megafauna died out soon after humans arrived on the scene (between 100s or a few 1000 years) as a result of over hunting. In your opinion does evidence at Cuddie Springs support or not support this theory? Come up with your own idea as to why megafauna died out.
  4. 4.

    Research the Pleistocene; the time when megafauna roamed Australia. Find out about 'Zygomaturus', 'Thylacoleo' and 'Diprotodon'. Create a scene showing what life might have been like. What types of megafauna were herbivores, which ones were carnivores? What would have threatened their survival?



Date of broadcast: 20 May 2010


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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