Megafauna

At the end of the last ice age, Australia’s climate changed from cold-dry to warm-dry. As a result, surface water became scarce. Most inland lakes became completely dry or dry in the warmer seasons. Most large, predominantly browsing animals lost their habitat and retreated to a narrow band in eastern Australia, where there was permanent water and better vegetation. The diprotodon, one of Australia’s megafauna, may have survived on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales until about 7000 years ago. As First Nations people have been in Australia over the past 60 000 years, megafauna must have co-existed with humans for at least 30 000 years. For social, spiritual and economic reasons, First Nations peoples harvested game in a sustainable manner.

Words to know:

• MEGAFAUNA – large animals such as elephant, mammoth, rhinocerous and diprotodon.
• GLACIAL – characterised by extensive masses of ice.
• TUNDRA – cold, desert, treeless plains of artic lowlands in Eurasia and North America.
• STEPPE – grasslands of temperate dry climate, such as in central Asia.
• BROWSERS – animals that feed predominantly on leaves.