Why is Australia's big herbivore so strange?

Across the world all the continents and ecological regions have their own large herbivore like bison, elephants, or the guonacos and tapirs in south America. Despite the many differences between each of the continents largest animals, they are all at least partly hoofed, four legged and move around by walking or galloping. However, in Australia the largest animal on the continent is the kangaroo which is none of these things so why did Australia's largest herbivore evolve so differently to every where else?
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Sources:
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[@lightsoda7445]

Fun fact, both the Kangaroo and the Emu cannot move backwards. Hence why they were both chosen to be on the Australian coat of arms as a symbol of always moving forward.

[@roomum9829]

Except when they fight - they move backwards when they fight - very little known fact, lol.

[@FeralWorker]

Only forward to try and forget the genocide it was founded on.

[@jzmc7562]

Putting an emu on the Australian coat of arms is like if the french put a British guy on theirs

[@hanster.gun.3438]

I mean they do use pentapedal movement and there fifth limb it’s tail can’t bend

[@MrManatee101]

@@jzmc7562 lol ikr, seems like it would be a little embarrassing to have an emu on there 😂

[@peterskye7825]

Part of the efficiency of hopping in macropods comes from their heavy and muscular tail, which provides a perfect counterbalance for the hopping movement.

[@josephahn601]

Ah that's why I can hop backward so efficiently

[@DzinkyDzink]

@@josephahn601 don't flatter yourself 😜

[@slamyourheadin9449]

@@josephahn601 good one Joseph

[@Will-sv9mf]

@@josephahn601 nice one Joseph

[@mortache]

They essentially have 3 legs

[@powpuckmobile1000]

There's also their method of reproduction as a factor. Marsupial young need to climb to reach their mother's pouch, and thus need grasping forepaws. This prevents specialized cursorial traits such as hooves from being selected for.

[@lachlanbell8390]

That's a great point, I didn't even think of that. I know everyone else thinks Australian fauna are really cool, but I always felt like they were the most boring of the mammals. I find the wildlife of every other country more interesting than our own - well, the mammalian ones at least, we do have some wicked cool reptiles & birds.

[@J75Pootle]

@@lachlanbell8390 it's probably because you grew up around them (assuming you grew up in Australia), so you're used to the style of nature in your country, whereas the rest of the world grew up with a different type of fauna so we see your animals as weird. Weirdness is subjective

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

Great point. I also imagine the much less inhibiting pregnancies of marsupials would aid in making the necessary specialisation more viable. Even if the young being stuck in the mother's pouch would inhibit the mother's ability to escape predators, it's much easier to leave a joey behind than to spontaneously abort a fetus. Sorry if that got a bit grim.

[@gustavosauro1882]

@@lachlanbell8390 I don't really know much about australian mammals,but from what I know, I kinda agree. Kangooroos are one of the coolest animals, koalas are cute but boring, and tassie devils look like huge rats, and make some scary sounds (wich is cool).

[@_Solaris]

Seems reasonable.

[@lachlanbell8390]

Pretty much all the things people find strange about Australian wildlife can be distilled down to the same basic survival pressure of inhabiting a vast continent full of open space, yet mostly semi-arid with very little rainfall and sparse nutrition. It's the same reason that everything here is so goddamn venomous: any snake or spider that encounters a prey item needs to capitalise on that opportunity ASAP, and they can't afford to risk their prey getting away, or inflicting insufficient damage to kill them. Hence they all evolved to have ultra-potent venom, and lots of it, to ensure that when they got the opportunity to attack, they were able to kill very quickly and reliably. Australian snake venom can kill a rodent or similar in a fraction of the time it takes for most snakes in other places, which means that prey item isn't going anywhere. If they miss that one, who even knows when the next chance might present itself. You can't afford to take that chance. Also why kangaroos hop, and why koalas barely move and spend like 22 hours a day sleeping.

[@bkjeong4302]

Actually there’s an even bigger factor, namely the recent loss of its large terrestrial herbivores and predators, which led to the myth that Australia is naturally lacking such animals because they couldn’t evolve there. And yes, I am aware Australia’s desertification did kill off much of its megafauna, but even after this there were quite a few species left (including iconic species like Diprotodon and the megalania), and the extinction of these giants can’t be chalked up to desertification.

[@BugsandBiology]

To be honest, most of our venomous wildlife isn't exclusive to this country, or has some sort of equivalent elsewhere. And some are highly venomous for different reasons. For example, funnel-web spider venom is potent to primates out of sheer coincidence; it doesn't affect other mammals anywhere near as much. Besides, less than 1% of our spider species possess medically significant venom.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

@@bkjeong4302 , It is a beautiful mess, nature. Evolve one way to fill a niche and sudden the top boys vanish entirely... you don't just lose your traits, you get bigger!

[@bkjeong4302]

@@lostbutfreesoul The red kangaroo HASN’T gotten bigger since the megafauna went extinct. Living Australian animals didn’t evolve after the megafauna went extinct, but at around the same time as the Australian megafauna.

[@hans-joachimbierwirth4727]

The strangest thing in Australia is the accent! It is really killing me.

[@bkjeong4302]

It is important to realize that Australia actually had a much wider array of large animals even up until human colonization (and an even greater array around half a million years ago). We should not be considering Australia as being evolutionarily or ecologically different from other continents for lacking large animals, because modern Australian ecosystems actually developed in the context of having large terrestrial animals. Even after Australia underwent desertification there were still over a dozen species of large terrestrial megafauna left by the time humans arrived on the continent. Diproton was was one of them.

[@Brizz-rc2wf]

Homo sapiens sapiens, destroyer of megafauna. Kind of our thing everywhere, almost like we evolved to do it 😅

[@bkjeong4302]

@@Brizz-rc2wf To be fair, Australia did lose part of its megafaunal diversity even before humans showed up, but we did still play the primary role in the extinction of the remaining dozen or so species of Australian megafauna.

[@carlosandleon]

@@Brizz-rc2wf To be fair Homo sapiens wasn't alone in this. Homo Erectus and other hominids also had dire effects on the ecosystems they encountered. I presume it's climate change that made it possible for hominids to proliferate around the world so effectively. So even the current imbalance is just a consequence of natural processes.

[@carlosandleon]

@@Brizz-rc2wf When we say human caused extinction it doesn't necessarily single out Homo sapiens specifically. "Human" roughly refers to primates in the genus Homo, which compromised a bunch of species.

[@OutdoorsJ]

@@Brizz-rc2wf Homo Sapiens are technically considered megafauna as well aren't we?

[@sylviaelse5086]

Near where I live in Australia, there are wallabies that seem to find no difficulty moving around terrain that is both steep, wooded, and rocky. Certainly terrain that I, as a non-hopping biped, would find challenging.

[@22Lofox]

I live on a hill in australia like a really steep hill and the kangaroos and wallabies have no problem getting up here

[@lancepage1914]

I live on a top of ridge in Australia, there are lots of Kangaroos and Wallabies. But the Wallabies mostly come out at night, mostly.

[@roomum9829]

They're probably Rock Wallabies - very adept at climbing.

[@Relatablename]

Exactly. The bush where I live is incredibly thick so trying to walk through it would be both dangerous and time-consuming. The wallabies counter all of that by just jumping over it.

[@koreyb]

Are there any marsupial predators left in Australia?

[@jandrews6254]

Kangaroos and their relatives have very efficient, sometimes considered TOO efficient, reproduction as a female can have one Joey at heel, another younger Joey in the pouch and a newborn as well. Her mammaries produce milk suitable for two different aged joeys at the one time.

[@MrOx85]

@Marav Reviews I am an Echidna and my penis has three heads, not to brag....

[@bungalo50]

maybe a factor in the evolution of this trait would be that standing up gave the kangaroos a longer vision distance, which would be well suited for a flat continent like Australia

[@ascaban6220]

The difference in height would be completely negligible for further vision

[@SocialDownclimber]

@@ascaban6220 Getting even a little extra vision range stops a lot of ambush predation. Ask the meerkats : )

[@ascaban6220]

@@SocialDownclimber Meerkats reason for additional height is irrelevant here. Kangaroo's only really have 2 natural predators, dingoes and wedge-tail eagles. We can instantly rule out the Eagles as the cause of this hypothetical change as they attack from above, meaning that quality of eyesight/position of the eyes would really be the trait that natural selection would target. Now dingoes could make sense as a cause but they only showed up 5000 years ago, not nearly enough time to be a cause of this evolutionary trait. However, we can't forget the extinct Tasmania Tiger which was a predator for kangaroos for a long time, however they hunted by ambushing prey then waiting till they tire out. However, kangaroos with there endurance could travel far longer than the Tasmania tiger could so it's theorised they preferred to hunt emus and only ever tried for kangaroos in desperate scenarios. With this in mind, I severely doubt that kangaroos evolved to be taller for vision and also ask "why wouldn't they get taller and taller to notice more easily ambush predators?" Instead, it is far more likely that the height kangaroos have now is the optimal height for there method of travel, as the video states the larger variants of the kangaroo could not hop to travel and would be far more susceptible to ambush predators than kangaroos.

[@leviroch]

@@ascaban6220 Youre ignoring marsupial lions

[@lightsoda7445]

@@leviroch This. There were much more carnivorous dangers back in the day, way before human occupation. And if you notice, when Kangaroos go down to graze, they immediately pop back up and scan the environment with their ears twitching, as if to always be on a look-out for something. And if they are in a group, it only takes one to bolt off before the rest do too. I would also assume their ability to move so fast by having such lean muscle mass is the result of their need to escape chasing predators. All of this would have stayed in their subconscious despite the eventual absence of the larger carnivores - which were ultimately replaced by early human settlement, who were able to cull the dominance of previous carnivore predators (which effected the Kangaroos) but not so much enough to fill that niche of a Kangaroo predator - which enabled the Kangaroos to become as numerous as they now are.

[@benprint7615]

As someone who was born in England and raised there until I was 11 in which I then moved to Australia, Kangaroos still baffle me 12 years later. Sure I’m used to them now, but they’re still unlike any other mammal. I will never forget walking to the bus stop for school in the mornings and having a pack of kangaroos sunbathing on my lawn every morning. We used to feed them weetbix and they’d come right up to the patio undercover when it rained.

[@amphicyon4359]

One thing I love about this channel is that it goes into much more depth than other animal related media. Most other shows, channels and articles would end around 6:09, but Moth Light manages to continue asking questions to give a more complete picture. Keep up the great work my man!

[@VasanthSesh]

The first settlers in Australia upon seeing a kangaroo: I’ve never seen herbivore!

[@Reikianolla]

I love the quirky sitting guy at 4:44

[@benvandusen8112]

Efficient hopping might also result in less breathing, thus conserving water.

[@neddyladdy]

Well, the hopping naturally has the lung expand on the upward leap and the lung compress on landing. This results in a greatly reduced effort for breathing. Oxygen is still needed for powering the muscles. The conserving of water is an interesting idea.

[@davidgriffiths7696]

Also the ground gets very hot, less time spent in contact with the ground would mean animals can move more quickly during the day instead of waiting in the shade of rocks or trees for the ground to be cool enough to stand on. At cruising speed they would spend about 90% of the time in the air allowing their feet to keep cool enough to travel across hot ground without injury. I have also found a likely solution for the giant tunnelling sloths, the tunnels were to protect slow moving juveniles until they are large enough to survive predation….

[@SocialDownclimber]

I was also thinking that they had to develop large, high surface area feet for loose sand in desert and semi-arid environments. A horse wouldn't get very far with four clown shoes on, so perhaps hopping was a secondary evolution to big feet.

[@oftin_wong]

Kangaroos are nocturnal creatures

[@davidgriffiths7696]

@@oftin_wong they seem to be active in the day as well. I followed one near the Olgas one late afternoon. But yes that would clearly solve the burned feet problem. A good time to spot a wallaby on the Isle of Man is in the very early morning.

[@oftin_wong]

@@davidgriffiths7696 they can be active in the day but as a rule they lay up in the shade during the day and graze at night, that way they dont overheat and they get the moisture that condenses on the vegetation overnight. Theres wallabies on the Isle of Man?...well I'll be danged and on some island in Scotland as well?? Good to see our boys getting out and about

[@davidgriffiths7696]

They escaped from the “zoo”, and are now feral, but also inbred.

[@avizinder616]

Bipedal stances raise the body and head higher off the ground, which can be deadly hot in arid environments. Maybe this is why bipedal mammals are common in these environments. Or maybe it lets them see predators from further away.

[@gunnar1846]

According to Jack Horner, the unique ankle morphology of marsupials in made them preadapted for hopping so it mostly comes down to serendipity.

[@austinhinton3944]

Given the tendency for hopping to evolve in arid environments (or that hopping just happened to work good in aridity) I wonder if living in a place where food sources were few and far between, allowed hoppers to more effectively and quickly move from one food source to another? That hopping let you hit more shrubs before your non-hopping competitors. Whereas environments that had more abundant and evenly distributed food sources, hopping didn’t offer any really advantage, so hoppers aren’t as common in those environments. About the only hoppers that live in such places I can think of are rabbits.

[@mzeewatk846]

But I've never seen a bunny hopping and eating at the same time. I think it's more likely to have evolved as an efficient preditor evasion strategy, and the bunnies at the top of the food chain just grew bigger. 🤔

[@dainah105]

I watch a doc last night that said Roos in the most arid regions of Australia spend their life chasing rain, so need to more fast and efficient

[@robotboy719]

@@dainah105 That makes sense, as rain also means food. Hopping may have evolved as predator escape in small marsupials but in arid, flat Australia, hopping served larger marsupials well. Of course, if Diprotodon was still around, we wouldn't be having this conversation but hopping seems to have allowed kangaroos to escape aborigines as well.

[@dainah105]

@@robotboy719 *Aboriginals ‘Aborigines’ is offensive But yes humans would have been one of the few threats to them. The only other threat I can think of is the Tasmania tiger? Not sure if there where many other predators for them (dingos are not native)

[@recolinotyu]

I'm pretty damn sure that hopping evolved mostly in order to minimize time spent in contact with hot desert sand

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

If Procoptodon couldn't hop, how did it actually walk? Kangaroos actually hop on their toes, and the kangaroo rat at 7:25 is walking bipedally on its toes. So maybe Procoptodon did too. That would explain that one giant toe on each foot, which would function like the foot of an ostrich

[@jacklantern7479]

Apparently they walked around like us

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

@Mullerornis I can see Procoptodon walking like a pangolin, whose front paws are basically a set of giant claws and unusable for walking. With its tail extended back to counterbalance its head and torso, Procoptodon would indeed resemble a miniature, furry theropod.

[@kaisserkjj2216]

I think i read once, that procoptodon was unguligrade

[@MrOx85]

Kangaroo rat lol, accurate description of a rock wallaby.

[@lachlanbell8390]

@@JohnDrummondPhoto The kangaroo rat can walk bipedally like that because it's not a kangaroo. Kangaroos can't move by moving their legs independently like that, even when they're moving very slowly (eg: when grazing) they use their tail to support their weight while moving both legs forward in unison. I'd be surprised if Procoptodon evolved an entirely different method of locomotion so as to be able to walk bipedally like a furry theropod. I think it's much more likely it moved in a similar way to all other species in the kangaroo lineage, albeit perhaps having lost the ability to move without its tail touching the ground to support its weight.

[@RiiftApart]

Hey man, I just wanted to say that we really appreciate your work. Pursuing knowledge about Evolution, interesting as it might be, is often not easy and not very accessible, so you making it more available for everyone is a huge gift. Thanks for everything! P.S.- What is the name of some of the themes used here, such as in Flying Reptiles? I absolutely adore them and can’t seem to find them.

[@magnetshowdotheywork]

Roos use their front paws like 90% of the time from my experience. They’re built extremely well for the Aussie terrain.

[@SilverScarletSpider]

Each continent has a large herbivore, but a Kangaroos ecological niche is technically far more similar to medium herbivores/omnivores like North American Deer, North American Humans, and Rats; rather than other “large” herbivores.

[@sauron6977]

Because the niche of big herbivore should still be occupied by the now extinct megafauna. All over the world ecosystems still act in function to animals that were slained thousands of years ago.

[@joelhungerford8388]

Australia had large herbivores the size of rhinos up until recently. It was humans who wiped them out

[@doggo7078]

Picture this: in an alien planet, an animal that climbs tall living beings simmilar to trees is forced to evolve to live on land. Their continent is flattened, so it is likely to develop hopping. But it has hands so it perfects the use of tools. So, an alien coming from a planet with flattened continents has a chance of being similar to a genius hopping kangaroo?

[@birdgirl8390]

As I was cringing at how humanoid kangaroos look, you had to make it worse

[@lavona8204]

All hail our new kangaroo overlords

[@DzinkyDzink]

They would make for poor hunters and it would impede their protein and fat consumption limiting their brain growth and forcing to be dumb herbivores in the end. The least we can hope for is that they taste good.

[@lavona8204]

@@DzinkyDzink it's too early to have my dreams crushed

[@doggo7078]

@@DzinkyDzink Tell that to the dumbest hervibore alive, the elephant

[@RisingRevengeance]

"Why is australia's so weird" I think we just have accept that australia just be that way

[@22Lofox]

Thank you we are not weird but ok thanks

[@frankthetank2550]

If we lived in Australia with no outside contact, then the European ecosystem would seem "weird"

[@noobgun12]

@@22Lofox yes you are but its not a bad thing

[@Tentacular]

Humans: "Hey check out the regenerative braking on my hybrid." Kangaroos: "Sorry can't hear you over the regenerative energy of my hopping."

[@_Solaris]

This is one of the better channels of its kind on KZbin.

[@mhdfrb9971]

Dr. Polaris are good too

[@archied101]

Thanks again, love your stuff ❤

[@Gorgsnaph]

Moth light I love your content and I wish you great success and happiness in the future. Remember to always stay to inspired, even if it means taking a break or doing something else so you don’t ever become discouraged 👍😊

[@recklesstrucker7952]

Gotta say i love your channel for one simple reason, to ask simple but rare questions. And then on top of that they never have simple answers and it's great

[@mojom.9221]

The virgin 4 legged herbivores Walking on all four. The Chad Kangaroo, Jumpss around on two Be efficent Dont elaborate further. Leaves. * jumps away *

[@zoltanperei4789]

7:24 It's time to get funky!

[@eliletts1680]

I enjoyed how you presented this! I actually learned a lot from this video! Thanks for sharing!

[@MrSaemichlaus]

What I love about this channel is that it drops right into the specifics of the topic and many of the comments provide useful context or additional info.

[@Undercovergrandma396]

I'm Australian and have been trying to find out more about our ancient/prehistoric fauna going back to the age of dinosaurs without much luck. Would love a video about it if you ever have the chance. Great video as usual 👍

[@williamsmitherson2170]

One of my personal favourites is Megalania, it's the largest lizard to have ever existed getting up to about 7 meters long. We used to have massive birds as well the mihirung could get up to 3 meters tall, we had a 30-40 ft long snake that would roam about. There's more modern ones, like the Thylacine or several species of emu and bandicoot. Hope that gets you started 😁

[@rods6405]

Tree-kangaroo research that why this guy does not mention it is beyond me. He is also wrong on many counts !

[@memomorph5375]

Hopping also minimizes time spent in contact with hot desert sand, I think that’s why desert mammals keep convergently evolving it

[@cesarcueto1995]

There are many deserts and many mammals that live in deserts do not hop

[@hailgiratinathetruegod7564]

@@cesarcueto1995 still, you only see hopping placental mamels in deserts

[@cesarcueto1995]

@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 that's irrelevant. They think that the hot desert ground means mammals will evolve hopping tendencies but that's not the case; only a limited number of desert mammals have evolved in this way and there are better ways to avoid the hot desert ground such as flying, adapted feet to protect against the hot ground, being nocturnal to avoid the heat altogether, etc.

[@oliverwilson11]

@@cesarcueto1995 Lots of aquatic tetrapods have convergently evolved fish-like locomotion (icthyosaurs, mosasaurs, thalattosuchians and other crocodylomorphs, cetaceans, sirenians, sea snakes etc). So fishlike locomotion is clearly useful for aquatic tetrapods. That doesn't mean ALL aquatic tetrapods will evolve fishlike locomotion. There are plenty that haven't, for example turtles, plesiosaurs, sea lions, penguins and desmostylians.

[@cesarcueto1995]

@@oliverwilson11 I understand that but you are taking my comment out of context; my reply was to theirs saying that desert mammals keep convergently evolving into these hopping animals because hopping somehow helps deal with the hot desert ground which can't be true. I mean it might decrease the amount of time the animal makes contact with the ground but they're still touching it and there are plenty of desert mammals that did not evolve into hoppers.

[@hannahpickles4825]

The recently extinct Giant Wombat was Australia's true largest herbivore, and was quadrapedal and massive like other large herbivores across the world. Humans caused their extinction. The kangaroos are now the "big herbivore" by default.

[@Cillana]

Which is exactly what he said in the video

[@ignemuton5500]

Do you people even watch the video before you comment.

[@hannahpickles4825]

Why is everyone so hostile lol

[@ignemuton5500]

@@hannahpickles4825 we arent hostile but for some reason a relatively big number of people in in the comments mention stuff that he literally talked about in the video, like one of the main points of the video is that australia used to have "normal" walking herbivores but they went extinct fairly recently, so mentioning it in the comments just makes you seem like you didnt even pay attention to the video.

[@hannahpickles4825]

@@ignemuton5500 it seems kinda hostile cause you're mad

[@chazsaw]

Not necessarily from any notable or necessarily reliable source, but I remember being told as a kid that one of the reasons behind animals evolving to hop may be to have less surface area in contact with incredibly hot ground, and that this is why hoping animals are usually found in deserts.

[@LimeyLassen]

Hooves would be better for this, but someone pointed out marsupials can't have hooves because they have to climb into their mother's pouch.

[@humboldt2087]

Doesn't sound plausible. Hot ground is not a problem as long as the animal has any kind of tough, "dead" insulating tissue on the feet (hooves, thick pads, etc.)

[@chazsaw]

@@humboldt2087 While I would say that I think the fact that so many of these animals are nocturnal is a pretty big strike against the idea, I think you may not be considering the fact that the belly/torso of the a quadrupedal animal is also close to the heat radiating from hot ground. Also consider there is only so much padding an animal the size of a jerboa can feasibly actually add to its feet. All that said, I am not married to the idea and I tried to express it with the tentativeness it deserves.

[@williamsmitherson2170]

Australia isn't just one giant desert, a lot of kangaroos and other hoping animals exists in Tasmania (the coldest part of Australia). Prior to climate change it used to get frequent snows during the winter, so it wouldn't explain why so many still exist and thrive. The main reason for hoping is to preserve energy which would also mean the body temperature wouldn't rise as much, which is especially good for warm environments as it naturally produces less heat making it need less food and water to cool off. Its a cool concept though lol

[@trueaussie9230]

Australia is not entirely desert. Not all kangaroos live in desert terrain. Some kangaroos live above the snow line. (Yes. We have snow) Desert kangaroos prefer to avoid moving during the heat of the day - if only to conserve water. (If you're ever in the Aus desert you would be wise to follow their example.) Hot desert sand loses heat rapidly once the sun is gone. Then the kangaroos start to forage.

[@thenerdbeast7375]

Kangaroos are a perfect example of how why animals should never be labelled as "primitive" or "advanced", all animals are equally evolved and still improving on their way of life and though an animal might seem "imperfect" in some ways itways it excels in others. A lot of the things that humans consider "better" or "more evolved" derive from human vanity because they are traits we use to measure how "evolved" we are with things such as brain size, longevity and biological functions. Kangaroos are probably one of the most derived and efficient mammalian body plans to have ever evolve and I would be willing to bet if put in competition with many ruminants it would out compete them, yet humans put them down for years just because they are so strange.

[@kokofan50]

Primitive just means closer to the basal form.

[@trueaussie9230]

'Primitive' and 'advanced' have specific meanings in the scientific world and have nothing to do with 'vanity'.

[@SifuPuma]

horseshoe crabs just dont give a fuck

[@thenerdbeast7375]

@@trueaussie9230 True scientifically minded people prefer 'basal' and 'derived', as primitive and advanced suggest that one is inherently worse than the other.

[@prestigev6131]

That’s not true, many animals genuinely are primitive like jellyfish. They evolved so long ago that they don’t even have brains or complex eyes. Of course jellyfish also prove that being primitive and being successful are not mutually exclusive

[@326Alan]

This is ridiculously high quality for such few views. You have a bright KZbin future ahead!!

[@PhilipSalen]

Fantastic as usual, thank you for your work!

[@anyascelticcreations]

Excellent video. I enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing.

[@jessehunter362]

Also, kangaroos are *deer sized*. Not megafaunal in the way that bison, elephants, or cows are. Deer and horses bounce too.

[@luckydal2059]

I’d argue deer and horses “bound”, not hop.

[@jessehunter362]

@@luckydal2059 The running motion of deer and horses is very similar, if somewhat less efficient, to that of kangaroos- the force of landing engages what is essentially a biological spring to make the energy to make the next footstep possible. The mechanics differ somewhat- if you’re quadrupedal, it’s harder to maintain balance when hopping with all legs in the same way- but the basic mechanisms are the same, and kangaroos fill a niche much closer to that of deer or horses than to elephants, bison, or tapirs. Categorizing them all as megafauna based on their relative size to other mammals in their ecosystem is disingenuous, as they don’t fill the same niches.

[@Mikailodon]

Im gonna hop like a kangaroo for now on when bipedal

[@MaoRatto]

Dat profile Pic and Name works well.

[@Piperdogloveshats]

Another great video!! You really never disappoint!!

[@alexwood9941]

Does anyone else really enjoy the fact that “Ken Ham” is one of the oldest patrion contributors on this evolution channel?

[@PineappleOnPizza69]

The rest of the world: *does normal worldly things* Australia: *"no we don't do that here"*

[@22Lofox]

You Americans and stuff are weird. Do you have fairy bread? I didn’t think so :[

[@sickly300salt3]

@@22Lofox oh god, now i want some fairy bread

[@edwinlevi6608]

If you haven’t already, please make a video about the evolution of the hippopotamus. It’s so weird to me how they got so dense through evolution

[@victoralcantar960]

This is why I pa… treon you. Amazing video! My brain always thanks your videos and the questions they address.

[@vekizveki2256]

i just want say that your videos are great and just keep it up man.

[@yawnberg]

Could do a whole series of "Why is Australia's _____ so strange?" And I would definitely watch it.

[@focusonrevenues]

Thank you for creating this great video. Forgive me for speculating here but I believe that we really do not understand the evolution of the marsupials in Australia because we are missing the evolutionary steps that took place in their migration from South America through Antartica which prevents us from truly understanding the adaptations that had to take place for them to survive the journey. A lot of adaptations may have come across from the rush migration as the continents were moving apart from one another.

[@cesarcueto1995]

This is obvious. Most of evolutionary biology is speculation.

[@koolas_9429]

Great video as always!

[@davidhowe6905]

Very well-explained and interesting; thanks!

[@thefisherman0074]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

[@thefolder3086]

Can you do a video about siphonophore evolution?

[@JohnyG29]

He said he couldn't do those.

[@lavona8204]

@@JohnyG29 sad!

[@jorgerangel2390]

loving this!, thanks

[@anothawhiteboy]

im thankful for this video!

[@charleslyster1681]

It is interesting that large bipedal animals run as well as hop, though not I think in the same species. The physical risks of this structure cannot have been that great when you consider the number of dinosaurs weighing several tons which ran on two legs. Has anyone looked at the possibility that there might have been hopping dinosaurs?

[@luckyshadowtux]

Nah the maths pretty much prohibits it, as in the video. Running requires stretchy tendons to store some energy, but not that much like 10-20% of total energy. Hopping requires about 90%. Energy stored in hops increases faster than mass, so at some point, there is literally just not enough space to store the energy in the Achilles tendon. Think about how big a kangaroos legs are compared to it's body. T-Rex would need even bigger legs, proportionally. Which gets ridiculous

[@LimeyLassen]

Bigger dinos have hip fractures just from mating attempts so I think hopping's off the table. Maybe the smaller ones, though.

[@ratbirdplaceholder7022]

There is old dino art that depicts two legged dinos hopping and using their tails like kangaroos and kicking each other. There is a KZbin video by E.D.G.E. talking all about this, it's called "the truth about kangaroo-kicking dinosaurs"

[@mmatthewdavey5704]

Idk if dinosaurs hopped but some birds and reptiles do so I have to assume some dinosaurs did as well.

[@MrHoppeltje]

A hopping T-rex, now you have completed my nightmares.

[@dynamosaurusimperious2718]

Because Aussie is pretty awesome and also this video was pretty good.

[@atakoranodonbrachiosaurus1209]

you summarised yet clearily explained everything.. I only expected something to have in the background, not to be distracted by this gold of a video

[@auntieghurtie]

Moth Light Media pulling through in the middle of exams, godbless

[@6Fiona6_P_6]

Also hopping maybe a great advantage in a country such as my country Australia. It can get stifling hot. Not only in the air but the ground can yet ouchy hot. So hopping might have developed in order so they wouldn’t have contact with the ground for as long as a quadruped or biped to travel a similar distance ( I’m only hypothesising here. I’m not quoting definite facts) ...... Oh And Hey the Kangaroo isn’t so strange. If Kangaroos could talk, they might think us humans are strange.............. ⚛️☮️🌏

[@Natallica0]

Iove Ur content, please keep making more

[@Netbase2000]

I'm binge watching this channel. Nice content

[@lionelhutz-attorneyatlaw4443]

Just found this channel. What a gem.

[@ButterBallTheOpossum]

These videos are unbelievably good. Don't stop making them. I remember when stuff like this was on discovery Channel before it sold out.

[@lightsoda7445]

There were much more carnivorous dangers back in the day, way before human occupation. And if you notice, when Kangaroos go down to graze, they immediately pop back up and scan the environment with their ears twitching, as if to always be on a look-out for something (which their upright posture helps in vision). And if they are in a group, it only takes one to bolt off before the rest do too. I would also assume their ability to move so fast by having such lean muscle mass is the result of their need to escape chasing predators. All of this would have stayed in their subconscious despite the eventual absence of the larger carnivores - which were ultimately replaced by early human settlement, who were able to cull the dominance of previous carnivore predators (which effected the Kangaroos) but not so much enough to fill that niche of a Kangaroo predator - which enabled the Kangaroos to become as numerous as they now are.

[@blindspot117]

if you go into the outback enough you will find 2m tall red roos that look like they've been in the gym for 20 years, they still hop and are very very fast.

[@rece7380]

I love this channel!

[@kekskrieger4463]

we need more azhadarchidea stuff....

[@GojiGuru]

Love your videos! You do an excellent job! Just a small help: your title should be "Why are Australia's big herbivores so strange," since you're talking about more than just one kind. But still awesome content! Always look forward to your stuff.

[@finnif1880]

4:00 baby elephant rubbing its eye so cute!

[@stevelee5724]

Real good show mate from New Zealand 🇳🇿

[@milalovesmae]

The Australian landscape has also evolved over time around the way our kangaroos move and they are very beneficial for our agriculture. The hooves of cows and sheep who are introduced into Australia compact our soils making them hard and dry. Overtime this has created flash flooding and makes it hard for any plants to continue growing there. Kangaroos are so light on their feet they don't influence the Australian fauna

[@memomorph5375]

Love your content, another great addition! Kangaroos look more comfortable/efficient at hopping than gerbils (a hopping rodent)

[@HogBurger]

Gerbils are a rodent but they don’t hop. You’re confusing them for Jerboas, but they have similar names so I can see why.

[@sassa82]

Great video!

[@markwilliams3174]

Brilliant. TY from Sydney, Australia.

[@Archie0pteryx]

Wouldn't the short faced kangaroo have trouble with no hopping because it only has the single toe on the back legs? if it were just walking with that body shape it must have been unbalanced, don't you think? Or do they think it was using its front limbs to walk too? Thanks for the videos!

[@Cooliostuff]

It's also important to mention that kangaroos are highly limited in developing running-adapted forelimbs as due to their mode of reproduction. Newborn joeys need fully developed and flexible forelimbs as well as claws to crawl from the mother's vagina into the pouch. This means they cannot be born with front hooves.

[@Cooliostuff]

@Mullerornis pretty sure that's because newborn bandicoots have some weird climbing rope thing goin on

[@Chromegrillz]

I love your channel.

[@georgeburchell296]

seeing lucky bay in the final shot really made me have some insane nostalgia flashback... such a beautiful place

[@OzSteve9801]

Lots of antelopes move quickly by hopping. They just do it on four legs. Luck of the evolutionary draw.

[@mhdfrb9971]

So does the pronghorns

[@ernestp9321]

Can you make a video on therizinosaurs? Dino sloths are heckin cool

[@alecboley9238]

thanks for giving

[@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz__]

I need to like this multiple times. Favourite science channel.

[@mukhtaralbahlani5273]

You made a statement about the largest animal that moves in that sort of locomotion is actually not the sprinhares although they move completely different the largest animal outside of Australia that moves by hopping is the sifaka lemurs

[@--Paws--]

I wonder if there was an extinct hopping predator, not small like certain hopping rodents, but as big as a medium sized dog or kangaroo.

[@ernestp9321]

When I read this I thought hopping thylacine lmao

[@lachlanbell8390]

Thylacine was the last real terrestrial predator native to Australia (dingoes being a recent migrant, brought by humans). After thylacine, the only marsupial predators here are the Tasmanian devil, and even smaller again the quolls, which are like possum-sized. Many thousands of years ago there was a marsupial lion called Thylacoleo (there were a number of species, can't recall exactly) but they've been extinct for a long, long time, along with almost all other megafauna. Never any predators with kangaroo-style locomotion, they were all herbivores.

[@--Paws--]

@@lachlanbell8390 A hopping predator in general, not exclusive to that region either. You are talking about something entirely.

[@--Paws--]

@@ernestp9321 I guess you and the other reply both misinterpreted my pondering. I went for the middle of the road size predator. The video implies predators have a limit to their size due to food scarcity compared to herbivores where have more food options.

[@jacklantern7479]

There was a carnivorous kangaroo from the Miocene called Ekaltadeta

[@icedteacatfish]

autocorrected the title in my brain to “why does australia have big herbivore energy”

[@1TakoyakiStore]

What about less contact with the ground to minimize the scent left for predators to pursue?

[@sableempire9654]

Highly unlikely- Roo’s didn’t have any predators through out most of their evolution- humans arrived 60,000 yrs ago and don’t hunt by scent. Dingoes only arrived 4,000 years ago. Too late to affect their evolution and Dingoes don’t hunt big roo’s. They would easily be killed by the dominant red males.

[@lachlanbell8390]

What predators? Dingoes didn't get here until long after humans did, IIRC estimated maybe 15K years ago. Not sure what thylacines sense of smell was like, but highly doubt they tracked their prey that way. Not even sure that dingoes do tbh.

[@jacklantern7479]

@@sableempire9654 thylacinus potens and thylacoleo

[@bkjeong4302]

@@sableempire9654 Australia DID have large land predators until human arrival, and even more of them in earlier parts of the Cenozoic. You’re wrongly assuming that the lack of land predators in Australia is natural, when it isn’t. When humans arrived around 40,000 years ago, Australia had two large predatory monitor lizards that hunted large mammals: Varanus priscus and V. komodoensis (which actually originated in Australia). Thylacoleo may have been among the late-surviving megafauna as well, and even if it wasn’t, it (and before it, its older, smaller relatives) was still something that would have posted a threat to the living species of kangaroos throughout their evolutionary history (since even if Thylacoleo wasn’t a late survivor it was still around as recently as 400,000 years ago). If you go back further, you get not only the ancestors of Thylacoleo as Australia’s land predators, but also giant versions of the thylacine such as T. potens. So yes, kangaroos (and Australian animals in general) DID face predators throughout pretty much their entire evolutionary history, from the start of the lineage all the way past the point they evolved into the kangaroo species we see today. It’s simply that human colonization killed off giant monitor lizards (and possibly Thylacoleo, if it lasted long enough to meet humans) after the living species of kangaroos had already evolved, giving the false impression Australia doesn’t have large native land predators.

[@sableempire9654]

@@bkjeong4302 actually I am aware of them. thylacoleo was unlikely to be fast enough to catch roo’s. More likely predated on slower marsupials. Possibly the big lizard could ambush roos but more likely hunted diprotodon- giant slower moving herbivores as big as rhinos. Human evidence dates back much earlier than 40,000 years ago and we definitely hunted roo’s. But not by scent. Theres no evidence the First Australian who were nomadic and seasonal hunters killed off the megafauna. More likely climate change. I read the updated archaeology and anthropology on this very topic earlier this year at The Sydney Museum of Natural History before we went into lockdown. So unless you are more qualified than Australian Ancient Megafauna experts at the Museum - here in Sydney. I’m going with their theories for now.

[@erichtomanek4739]

If it wasn't for the aborigines, Diprotodon species would be the largest land herbivores in Australia, followed by Giant Short Faced Kangaroos and Terror Ducks (I think). Red Kangaroos being the largest is unnatural and entirely man made. Another reason for energy efficient hopping is that Australian soils are very nutrient deficient. Thus the plants are nutrient deficient.

[@macadelic1360]

Ancient exctinct animals are always crazy and cool but especially Australia’s! Could you imagine a giant kangaroo that’s 500+ pounds or a wombat that’s 10 ft and weighs like 6,000 pounds

[@temple1111]

Made my day as always.

[@sagacious03]

Interesting analysis! Nice to hear about kangaroos! Thanks for uploading!

[@blackdogRexy]

I was visiting Cradle Mountain in Tasmania where many wallabies are quite domesticated and put my hand inside a wallabies pouch. Talk about the softest and warmest place in the world. Its amazing the joeys ever leave.

[@thekingwalrusc4026]

Great video

[@jairocorrales7370]

I mean… bunny hopping is the ultimate speed run strategy.

[@probablynotmyname8521]

It can be astonishing to see the agility of kangaroos up close. Ive seen relatively small ones, barely a meter high, clear meter plus high fences from a standstill. And they can move extremely quickly, although they are rather stupid and can panic easily.

[@dungeoneerofphilosophyphd172]

Bipedalism also helps roos watch for predators, because it allows their head to be upright, higher than if they were quadrupeds, and on a swivel

[@kokofan50]

Humans have a number of similar adaptations. We have large elastic tendons in our legs that give us a 70% energy return. It’s not the 90% kangaroos have, but it’s a lot higher than anything but kangaroos.

[@andrewince8824]

A Roo also gets a perception buff. When stationary, it can sit upright thus gaining extra height to look for threats. This may be linked with hopping as getting a wiggle on from this upright position would be essential in long term survival. See it, leg it, survive it.

[@NoahSpurrier]

I’ve seen kangaroo mice in Death Valley, California and they are fast, but also unpredictable in their movements. You blink and they disappear and reappear somewhere nearby. It’s difficult to track and predict their trajectory.