Biology Assignment Mega Fauna
Scientific Name: Genyornis Newtoni
Common Name: Genyornis Newtoni (Thunder Bird)
General Description:
Genyornis Newtoni was the last of the large, flightless mihirungs native to Australia. Genyornis was a heavy built bird that stood over 2 metres tall, with small wings and massive hind legs. Mihirungs had deep lower jaws and a distinctly shaped quadrate bone that connect the upper and lower jaw. Genyornis had a wedge-shaped head to go along with its unusually deep jaw not common in most birds. Genyornis was not the largest dromornithid, scientists are yet to find a fully intact skull of the Thunder Bird, but they have found cave paintings of the large bird giving proof that the Genyornis Newtoni co-existed with …show more content…
Approximate time period:
The Genyornis Newtoni lived in the Pleistocene era 1.8 million years ago and lasted till around 11,700 years ago. Genyornis Newtoni have been approximated to live within that age from 1.64 Ma to about 10,000 BP.
Distribution:
Fossils have been located in Lake Callabonna, Balinda Creek, Mt. Gambier, Salt Creek and Naracoorte Caves in South Australia. Wellington Caves and Cuddie Springs in New South Wales are also home to fossil findings of Genyornis Newtoni. Along with fossils, burnt eggshells have been found in dune deposits in South Australia and footprints possibly related to Genyornis Newtoni have been found in Pleistocene dunes in Southern Victoria. With all these places containing traces to the Genyornis Newtoni it gives us clues that the Thunder Birds enjoyed the wide ranges of forests and the heat of sand the most in the habitats.
The diet of the Genyornis Newtoni is difficult to identify and even though the beak of the bird was sharp and powerful bu cannot be identified if the bird was a herbivore or a carnivore. It is equally possible that Genyornis was an omnivore possibly feeding from plants and scavenging for meat …show more content…
With the last ice age beginning in the Pleistocene age it was believed that when it ended it caused a massive wave of extinction to the Megafauna with much of the habitats and food drastically changing and being wiped out itself.
With it being proven that humans lived with Megafauna for a long time before extinction wiped out the Megafauna it is believed that mass hunting was a massive cause in the extinction in the animals. Genyornis Newtoni is one to be believed that mass hunting of the bird and their eggs was a large factor in the extinction of the Thunder Bird.
The question of how the Megafauna became to be no longer is a widely augmented between historians and scientists with the evidence of Aboriginals hunting the animals for food and the last ice age having a great factor on climate and how the animals did not seem to adapt to the change quick enough causing too big of a difference in their everyday
Scientific Name: Genyornis Newtoni
Common Name: Genyornis Newtoni (Thunder Bird)
General Description:
Genyornis Newtoni was the last of the large, flightless mihirungs native to Australia. Genyornis was a heavy built bird that stood over 2 metres tall, with small wings and massive hind legs. Mihirungs had deep lower jaws and a distinctly shaped quadrate bone that connect the upper and lower jaw. Genyornis had a wedge-shaped head to go along with its unusually deep jaw not common in most birds. Genyornis was not the largest dromornithid, scientists are yet to find a fully intact skull of the Thunder Bird, but they have found cave paintings of the large bird giving proof that the Genyornis Newtoni co-existed with …show more content…
Approximate time period:
The Genyornis Newtoni lived in the Pleistocene era 1.8 million years ago and lasted till around 11,700 years ago. Genyornis Newtoni have been approximated to live within that age from 1.64 Ma to about 10,000 BP.
Distribution:
Fossils have been located in Lake Callabonna, Balinda Creek, Mt. Gambier, Salt Creek and Naracoorte Caves in South Australia. Wellington Caves and Cuddie Springs in New South Wales are also home to fossil findings of Genyornis Newtoni. Along with fossils, burnt eggshells have been found in dune deposits in South Australia and footprints possibly related to Genyornis Newtoni have been found in Pleistocene dunes in Southern Victoria. With all these places containing traces to the Genyornis Newtoni it gives us clues that the Thunder Birds enjoyed the wide ranges of forests and the heat of sand the most in the habitats.
The diet of the Genyornis Newtoni is difficult to identify and even though the beak of the bird was sharp and powerful bu cannot be identified if the bird was a herbivore or a carnivore. It is equally possible that Genyornis was an omnivore possibly feeding from plants and scavenging for meat …show more content…
With the last ice age beginning in the Pleistocene age it was believed that when it ended it caused a massive wave of extinction to the Megafauna with much of the habitats and food drastically changing and being wiped out itself.
With it being proven that humans lived with Megafauna for a long time before extinction wiped out the Megafauna it is believed that mass hunting was a massive cause in the extinction in the animals. Genyornis Newtoni is one to be believed that mass hunting of the bird and their eggs was a large factor in the extinction of the Thunder Bird.
The question of how the Megafauna became to be no longer is a widely augmented between historians and scientists with the evidence of Aboriginals hunting the animals for food and the last ice age having a great factor on climate and how the animals did not seem to adapt to the change quick enough causing too big of a difference in their everyday