Vous Pensiez Que L’Australie Moderne Était Dangereuse ? Découvrez Plutôt Son Passé

Sympa

Préhistorique, l'Australie abritait certaines des créatures les plus effrayantes jamais vues. Imaginez croiser un kangourou géant carnivore ou un énorme crocodile de 6 mètres de long ! Il y avait aussi d'immenses oiseaux appelés "canards démons" qui ne pouvaient pas voler mais pouvaient vous pourchasser. Et n'oublions pas les énormes lézards et serpents qui parcouraient la terre. On peut dire que vivre dans l'Australie ancienne aurait été comme vivre dans un film de monstres en direct !  Animation créée par Sympa. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musique par Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com   Pour ne rien perdre de Sympa, abonnez-vous!: https://goo.gl/6E4Xna​ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nos réseaux sociaux : Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sympasympacom/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sympa.officiel/  Stock de fichiers (photos, vidéos et autres): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Si tu en veux encore plus, fais un tour ici:  http://sympa-sympa.com

Transcript

00:00In the past, Australia housed its own giants and its titanic animals would have eclipsed everything that lives today on this continent.

00:07Scientists have discovered many remains of these ancient creatures in the caves of Narra Court, in southern Australia, four hours from the city of Adelaide.

00:17It is a beautiful but dangerous region.

00:20Beware of the holes scattered in the ground.

00:22Known under the name of urn traps, many are no larger than a kitchen table.

00:28They are deep and plunge into the darkest caves.

00:33One of these caves, the Victoria Fossil Cave, is a treasure housing the bones of about 45,000 animals for centuries.

00:42Some of the oldest bones belong to creatures much more terrifying than any living animal today.

00:48These are the ancient Australian megafauna, gigantic beasts that roamed the continent during the Pleistocene.

00:55Among them were huge snakes, huge birds unable to fly, creatures similar to rhino-sized wombats, and many more.

01:07One of the largest representatives of the Australian megafauna discovered to date is the Diprotodon.

01:13This gigantic herbivorous creature was 3 meters long by 2 meters high and weighed more than 2,500 kilograms, as much as a small Asian elephant.

01:23Although this impressive beast was not a carnivore, it could have crushed other animals by its own weight.

01:30Scientists have found the remains of hundreds of these creatures all over Australia.

01:36This suggests that no other animal of this time or region surpassed such a colossus.

01:43Despite its imposing appearance, the Diprotodon was a parent of the modern wombat, sometimes known to hover over humans.

01:51The Diprotodon had toes turned inwards, perfectly adapted to dig burrows.

01:57However, given its size, it is unlikely that it dug them itself.

02:03This trait was probably inherited from its smaller ancestors.

02:08It could also have used its claws to look for roots, a theory supported by the fact that the animal's pocket was oriented backwards,

02:15thus preventing dust from accumulating while it was digging.

02:19Being very large, it did not have much to fear from predators.

02:23Until the arrival of the first humans on the continent, about 60,000 years ago,

02:28the adult Diprotodons had to be wary of only a few creatures, such as the fearsome Quinkana.

02:35With an impressive length of 6 meters, the Quinkana was a terrestrial crocodile that lived in Australia about 40,000 to 20 million years ago.

02:44It disappeared at the same time as most of the other great creatures of the last ice age,

02:49probably following the arrival of the first humans on the continent.

02:53Although the Quinkana was extremely fast and dangerous,

02:56it is possible that this creature was supplanted by the human hunters who then caught all the prey available.

03:03Unlike modern crocodiles, which are mainly aquatic, this powerful Saurian was an inhabitant of the land.

03:10Scientists discovered it by studying the legs of the Quinkana,

03:14capable of lifting its body far above the ground.

03:17This suggests that once spotted by a Quinkana, there was no escape.

03:22Modern crocodiles, on the other hand, drag themselves by crawling on their bellies.

03:26Such an adaptation allowed the Quinkana to chase its prey for long distances, until exhaustion.

03:33Another frightening feature of this ancient monster was its teeth.

03:37Unlike the conical teeth of aquatic crocodiles, excellent for grabbing and holding prey underwater,

03:43the teeth of the Quinkana were in the shape of blades, ideal for tearing soft-bodied animals such as us, mammals.

03:51Another Australian monster, the Tilacoleo, was not so big, but that did not make it less terrifying.

03:57It was one of the main predators and the largest carnivores in Australia.

04:01This creature represented a real oddity of nature, even compared to other prehistoric monsters.

04:09To begin with, its teeth did not look at all like those of an ordinary predator, but like those of a rodent.

04:16Its hypertrophied incisors took the place of canines and its premolars, in the shape of blades, were used to tear flesh and bones.

04:24At first, scientists thought that the Tilacoleo used its teeth to eat nuts and other fruits.

04:32But later, a study showed that its teeth were much more adapted to cut necks and section vertebral columns.

04:39What a program!

04:40The jaws of this creature were terribly powerful.

04:44A 100 kg Tilacoleo had a bite force comparable to that of a modern lion of 250 kg.

04:52This meant that the animal could easily kill a prey much larger than it.

04:56In addition, the tail of the Tilacoleo was endowed with powerful muscles that allowed the animal to use it as support when it attacked large prey.

05:06The Tilacoleo had retractable claws, an extremely rare feature among marsupials.

05:13This particularity allowed it to keep its extremely sharp hooks without fraying them, thus offering a better grip on its prey.

05:22Scientists are also convinced that, just like modern leopards, the Tilacoleo could climb trees and leap on other animals from heights.

05:32Its attacks were so fast and stealthy that its victims never knew what had struck them.

05:38This theory is reinforced by the structure of its hind legs.

05:42The first toe was reduced there, while the foot had a rough cushion similar to that of current opossums,

05:50which offered a better grip when climbing.

05:53When scientists discovered the first skull of Mayolania, they first thought it was a lizard, hence its signifying name, the Humble Errant.

06:03However, after finding more complete fossils, it turned out that the Mayolania was actually a giant turtle and not a lizard.

06:12It was one of the largest terrestrial turtles to have ever existed.

06:16The initial mistake of the researchers was that it had spiny ornaments on its skull, a feature that can also be found in modern horned lizards.

06:26Despite the discovery of the true nature of this creature, scientists are still struggling to classify it correctly.

06:34We do not know if this turtle folded its neck under its spine or on its side to defend itself.

06:41In addition to its skull defense mechanisms, the Mayolania also had a spiny tail,

06:47presumably used to repel predators attacking it from behind.

06:52Most of the Mayolania species disappeared about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago,

06:57probably due to human activity that led to their extinction in Australia and the neighboring islands.

07:03It took about two centuries for these turtles to die out in this region of the globe.

07:08The Mayolania was an Australian giant lizard that lived at the end of the Pleistocene.

07:13It resembled the Komodo dragon and the Australian Varant Bigaret, considered its closest living relatives.

07:19Fossils show that this ancient lizard was 4.5 to 8 meters long.

07:25And the most recent fossils of Mayolania date back to about 50,000 years ago.

07:29The first indigenous peoples probably lived next to the Mayolania, which contributed to the extinction of this giant lizard.

07:35Initially, scientists thought it was the only representative of the Mayolania genus.

07:41However, it now belongs to the Varanus genus,

07:45which indicates that this prehistoric creature is closely related to modern Australian Varants.

07:51The next giant on our list is sometimes nicknamed the Ostrich under Steroids, due to its imposing size.

07:58The Genyornis, the last of the Dromornitidae to disappear in Australia,

08:02lived next to the first humans.

08:04It is likely that they coexisted for about 15,000 years before the huge volatile disappeared.

08:10This hypothesis is reinforced by the discovery of fossils of Genyornis associated with human tools.

08:16In addition, some rupestrous paintings represent birds unable to fly,

08:21which strongly resemble the Genyornis by their size and appearance.

08:24Although the Genyornis was not the largest bird in Australia,

08:28it still measured the size of an adult man and weighed about 250 kg.

08:33Compared to a modern ostrich, which can be dangerous when it feels threatened,

08:39imagining facing its immense prehistoric ancestor would make you think more than once.

08:45Scientists are still debating the food regime of the Genyornis.

08:49Some think it was herbivorous, but it is also possible that it was partially carnivorous.

08:55Its small, ragged wings and its powerful soles in the form of soles could suggest a vegetarian diet,

09:01while its huge beak and its exceptionally developed lower jaw continue to raise questions.

09:07Indeed, these characteristics are at least atypical in birds.

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