Procoptodon - The Giant short-faced kangaroo

Hello, I'd like to share with you an animal you may have or not have heard of before! Proctodon which was a genus of giant short-faced kangaroos that used to live in Australia back in the Pleisocene epoch. They don't call these type of kangaroos giant for nothing. The giant short faced-kangaroo has a height of 6.6 ft & weighs over 500 pounds! That's even taller and heavier than the average person! The giant short-faced kangaroos have short faces & forward-pointing eyes. Their feet consist of a single toe which seem to have a similar appearance to a horses foot. With these feet they moved quickly through open forests & plains in Australia to find and eat grass & leaves. Their front paws are quite unusual as they have two extra-long fingers with large claws. They most likely have these unusual paws, so they can grab branches to bring leaves to eating distance of their mouth. Unfortunately, the genus Proctodon went extinct at least 50,000 years ago. It is possible they could've stayed longer, because there is evidence of this. The reason of them going extinct is usually related to human activities, but it is uncertain if we actually caused an end to them.

   Fun Fact

•  There is a full-sized giant short-faced kangaroo replica, on display with native Australians at the Australian Museum in Sydney.   

 

Source: http://www.wikipedia.org/