Pleistocene .....

Australia and New Guinea lost around 55 species of mammals towards the end of the Pleistocene. The species that disappeared in this wave of extinction are collectively termed the megafauna because many of them were very large, and the event is refereed to as the late Pleistocene megafauna extinction.

The extinct large mammal herbivores of the late Pleistocene can be divided into two major groups : large wombat-like creatures, as well as true wombats and a giant koala; and wonderfully diverse set of kangaroos, consisting of some larger relatives of living kangaroos and the completely extinct short-faced kangaroos. In all, 10 families were affected by the ‘megafauna’ extinctions and most of them lost a large proportion, if not all, of their species.