PREHISTORIC fire starters may have unwittingly killed off the big beasts that once roamed Australia. Analysis of ancient eggshells suggests that the animals suddenly became extinct about 50,000 years ago because people burned up their habitat.
Australia’s giant carnivorous kangaroos, 7-metre-long lizards, marsupial lions and enormous flightless birds all died off between 45,000 and 55,000 years ago. Most scientists agree that people arrived in Australia somewhere between 50,000 and 55,000 years ago. This suspicious coincidence of timing has led some to conclude that overzealous hunting by humans caused the extinctions. But others claim that we could not have cleared the entire continent of so many…
