Giant ice age kangaroos had massive cheekbones for crushing bites
Source: New Scientist
Giant ice age kangaroos had massive cheekbones for crushing bites
11 September 2019
By Ruby Prosser Scully
Extinct giant kangaroos had skulls built to deliver the powerful crunch needed to eat tough food, such as branches and stems. This may have allowed them to survive long stretches of time when other food was scarce.
Short-faced kangaroos lived in Australia during the last ice age and are known for their short snouts, large jaws and teeth, and heavily built skulls.
D. Rex Mitchell at the University of New England, Australia, created a digital model of the skull of one type of short-faced kangaroo, the 120-kilogram Simosthenurus occidentalis, and analysed the effects of different biting behaviour.
He found that the giant kangaroo had teeth so close to the jaw joints that, if its cheek muscles were proportionate to the tree-kangaroo, a living relative, then the chances of its jaw dislocating were high.
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Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2216102-giant-ice-age-kangaroos-had-massive-cheekbones-for-crushing-bites/
An artistic reconstruction of the short-faced kangaroo
© N. Tamura
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Related: The anatomy of a crushing bite: The specialised cranial mechanics of a giant extinct kangaroo (PLOS ONE)
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