Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, though supposedly
the worst of COVID-19 in the U.S. is over. Great. Considering that NYC alone has
at least one mass grave by now, I am not being overly enthusiastic and optimistic
here. Anything else?
…Honestly, I would like to talk about the kangaroos now. Why
them? Because they are both real and unique. They are one of the best-known symbols
of the Australian fauna, alongside the koala, and they deserve it. There are
other jumping mammals in the rest of the continents, but they are smaller than
the kangaroos are, on average. Pause.
Strictly speaking, the term ‘kangaroo’, derived from one of
the Australian Aboriginal language names for the eastern grey kangaroo, (as
opposed to the western grey species), applies to only four species of those
mammals: the already-mentioned eastern and western grey kangaroos, the red
kangaroo, and the less-known antilopine kangaroo. All the rest of them critters
are wallaroos, wallabies, tree kangaroos, potoroos, rat kangaroos, bettongs and
so forth. The primary difference between all of those ‘roos is their size – the
four species mentioned separately are the biggest, the three genera and the
eight species of rat-kangaroos and co. are the smallest, but all of them can
jump, (except for the tree kangaroos, I suppose), and they all eat plants.
There are rumors that some extinct species of kangaroo were carnivores instead,
but they do not surface very often. What next?
…The mention of the prehistoric kangaroos brings us to the
last episode of the ‘Monsters Resurrected’ mini-series, one that dealt with the
Megalania. It was a giant prehistoric monitor lizard, (in case there is someone
who does not know; probably a unicorn), and it fed, among other things, on
giant prehistoric ‘roos, such as Procoptodon. From what I can remember, the
giant monitor lizard preferred to ambush its’ prey period, venomous bite or
not, because otherwise? Its’ chances were more ambiguous, because even modern
kangaroos, (I am talking about the big four here), are tough, even against
people with firearms, and Procoptodon was even bigger and more massive than
they are. Ergo, if the Megalania did not get lucky and Procoptodon could escape
or fight back, then things could go in favor of either beast.
Aside from Procoptodon, that episode of ‘Monsters
Resurrected’ also featured Diprotodon, a rhino-sized cousin of the modern
wombats (there are several species) and the koala, (about one species, but
maybe several subspecies), and the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo. Megalania
defeated them all, but, again, it is only because the scriptwriters wanted it
so. Otherwise… Diprotodon was as big as the modern rhinos are, had a powerful
bite of its own, and was even more massive than Megalania was – with a
successful counterattack, the giant lizard would be in so much trouble!..
Yes, the modern Komodo dragons kill the water buffaloes that
co-exist with them, but, honestly, I feel that there is something artificial
about the entire situation. Water buffaloes are not that stupid, and if the
Komodo dragons harassed them regularly, the mammals would have figured
something out. Instead, I’m guessing, the entire ‘hunt’ of a Komodo dragon for
a water buffalo is so disproportionally slow, and when a water buffalo dies, so
many dragons feast on it, that it is a completely different situation from
water buffalos and tigers in the national parks on Asian mainland, for
comparison. That said, Megalania was much bigger than the modern Komodo dragon
is, so I am not entirely sure that it worked out in the same way.
As for Thylacoleo… Listen, during the Pleistocene, Australia
was home to last truly huge reptiles of bygone ages; aside from Megalania, (aka
a giant lizard), there was also Meiolania, (a giant horned tortoise), Wonambi,
(a giant constrictor snake) and Quinkana, (the last of the truly terrestrial crocodiles).
They all died out as the Ice Age ended; maybe it was because of humans, but as
far as humans go, the Australian Aboriginals weren’t all that well-equipped or
well-armed to handle a creature like Megalania…which brings us to ‘Monsters We
Met’.
This was another mini-series, one aired back in the 90s, a
trilogy of human take-over of the planet. There is a companion book too, ‘Land
of the Lost Monsters’ (or something similar), and it is much more derived than
the original trilogy; the point is that the second episode of ‘Monsters’ was
about the human take-over of Australia and their interaction with the native
fauna, which featured Diprotodon and Megalania. These depictions were not as
good or realistic as they were in ‘Monsters Resurrected’, but the latter was
certainly inspired, (at least in regards to this episode), by the former. That
aside, in ‘MWM’, the second episode claimed that by using fire-based hunting –
aka suddenly start a fire, kill or capture anything that escapes and pick-up
the charred corpses afterwards – humans were able to defeat Megalania and its’
kin. Pause.
Yeah, there are the cryptozoologists, who insist that
Megalania has survived in Australia even to this day. The same is said about
its’ other predators – the marsupial mammals Thylacoleo and Thylacine, (the
latter died-out during the European colonization of Australia instead). So far,
there is nothing to prove the cryptozoologists right, but there is nothing to
prove them wrong either, and it would be interesting to learn that the marsupial
lion or wolf survive somewhere out there even to this day. Pause. Let us get
back to the kangaroos?
Another pause. Procoptodon, Diprotodon, and similar mammals
died out alongside the marsupial carnivores and giant reptiles; whether it was
because humans arrived in Australia, the climate changed or something else, but
die out they died. The smaller, proportionally tougher marsupials survived… in
a manner of speaking. Last year, (or in 2018?) Australia was marked by some
monstrous fires, even humans barely survived them, and Australian wildlife
suffered even more; people had to help them survive, both professionally and on
the spur of the moment; even so, quite a few mammals, (including the koalas),
died. Did I mention that real life sucks? If so, then sorry, but that incident
seems to have been forgotten already, because of the COVID-19 and all. Humans
have really short memories, it looks like…
…Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!
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