We have been fortunate to be able borrow an Australian Megafauna Kit from our library. This kit contained casts, some books and a poster which we used as part of our Australian Megafauna Study.
In the kit we borrowed, we were able to examine the following casts:
- Euryzygoma – Mandible or lower jaw (half)
- Megalania: Mandible, dentury (half)
- Megalania: Maxilla or upper jaw (half)
- Propleopus: Mandible or lower jaw (half)
- Thylacoleo: Cranium
- Thylacoleo: Mandible or lower jaw (half)
It also contained a 10 minutes video of how the Megafauna stamps of Australia were created as well as a poster of some of the more well known Australian Megafauna. We read the two books and the cards that were included as well.
The bones enjoyed examining the casts and see the size of the teeth on these creatures. It was good to get an idea of how big some of these extinct creatures really were and how powerful some of their jaws were.
Above is (half) the lower jaw of the Propleopus. The Propleopus wa sa meat-eating large-rat kangaroo that had very stout, grinding teeth. It may have weighed up to 70 kg, with the rat-kangaroos of today averaging only 3 – 4 kg.
Above is the cranium and lower jar of the Thylacoleo, otherwise known as the marsupial lion. It had a cat-like skull with large, slicing premolars. With a large, retractable thumb claw and powerful forelimbs, this would have been a fearsome predator.
As part of learning about the extinct Australian Megafauna, I created an Australian Megafauna Study which our boys have enjoyed completing.
It is a 27-page study contains reading and comprehension pages on the following:
- Megafauna
- Diprotodon
- Euryzygoma
- Zygomaturus
- Procoptodon
- Genyornis
- Thylacoleo
- Megalania
- Wonambi
- Thylacine
- Liasis
- Quinkana
- Meiolana
- Dromornis, plus
- Create your own Megafauna
- Design the habitat for you Megafauna
- Word Search
To grab your copy of this study, click on the link below. It will be free for the first week.
*** Australian Megafauna Study ***
You may also like:
- Australian Gold Rush Timeline Cards
- Australian Animals Printable Pack
- Platypus Unit
- Platypus Life Cycle Cards
- Australia Unit Study
- Australian Mega Fauna Study
- Australian Money Pack
- Australian Money Cards
- Australian Gold Rush and Eureka Stockade mini printable pack.
Review: Travels with Music™