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43     Australia?
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The kangaroos and wombats of Australia are but a pale shadow of what once was. Here drawn to the scale of a spear-wielding hunter are just part of what used to grace its landscapes before humans came on the scene. Imagine an animal the size of a rhinoceros but with a marsupial pouch. They all went down about 50,000 years ago, about exactly when humans got to Australia. It is probably no accident that the survivors are either very fast on their feet (kangaroos and wallabees) or burrow far underground (wombats).
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