Scientists Analyze Ancient DNA from Extinct Giant Kangaroos in Australia

Most of us are familiar with the kangaroos of today, but did you know that giant kangaroos once existed in Australia? Now, scientists have managed to extract DNA from this extinct animal, which once roamed the continent 40,000 years ago.

In order to accomplish this feat, the researchers relied on good DNA samples. Scientists uncovered the remains of a giant short-faced kangaroo and a giant wallaby in a cold and dry cave in Tasmania. The relatively good preservation conditions in the cave allowed enough short pieces of DNA to survive that the researchers were able to construct partial "mitochondrial genomes," which is genetic material transmitted from mother to offspring.

"The ancient DNA reveals that extinct giant wallabies are very close relatives of large living kangaroos, such as the red and western grey kangaroos," said Bastien Llamas, the lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Their skeletons had suggested they were quite primitive macropods-a group that includes kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons and quokkas-but now we can place giant wallaby much higher up in the kangaroo family tree."

The new research also confirmed that short-faced kangaroos are a highly distinct lineage of macropods. It also confirmed that this kangaroo left no descendants. That said, the DNA showed that their closest living cousin could be the banded hare-wallaby, which is now restricted to small isolated islands off the coast of Western Australia.

"Our results suggest the banded hare-wallaby is the last living representative of a previously diverse lineage of kangaroos," said Mike Lee, co-author of the new study, in a news release. "It will hopefully further encourage and justify conservation efforts of this endangered species."

The findings are published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

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