page_title: Australian megafauna
hierarchical_section_title: Australian megafauna
caption_attribution_description: A skeleton of a Marsupial Lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) in the Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte Caves National Park
context_page_description: The term Australian megafauna refers to a number of large animal species in Australia, often defined as species with body mass estimates of greater than 45 kg or equal to or greater than 130% of the body mass of their closest living relatives, that lived during the Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are contested.
  There are similarities between prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the Aboriginal Dreamtime.
context_section_description: The term Australian megafauna refers to a number of large animal species in Australia, often defined as species with body mass estimates of greater than 45 kg (100 lb) or equal to or greater than 130% of the body mass of their closest living relatives, that lived during the Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are contested.
  There are similarities between prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the Aboriginal Dreamtime.
caption: A marsupial lion skeleton in the Naracoorte Caves, South Australia
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S9500", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S9500   Ver1.01", "Image DateTime": "2006:07:18 17:24:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "294", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1342", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10056", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "5/13", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:07:18 17:24:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:07:18 17:24:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "73/50", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-117/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3488", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2616", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1194", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4482", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4482", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Soft", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}