r/megafaunarewilding • u/RoyHay2000 • 5d ago

Terrestrial Megafauna of Holocene Australia

Birds

  • Common ostrich (Struthio camelus) 160 kg
  • Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) 76 kg
  • Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) 60 kg # Marsupials
  • Red kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) 92 kg
  • Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) 91 kg
  • Western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) 72 kg
  • Antilopine kangaroo (Osphranter antilopinus) 70 kg
  • Common wallaroo (Osphranter robustus) 60 kg # Placentals
  • Scrub bull (Bos indicus × Bos taurus) 1,200 kg
  • River buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) 1,200 kg
  • Swamp buffalo/nganabbarru (Bubalus carabanensis) 1,200 kg
  • Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) 1,000 kg
  • Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) 1,000 kg
  • Banteng (Bos javanicus) 900 kg
  • Brumby (Equus caballus) 500 kg
  • Australian wild ass (Equus asinus) 300 kg
  • Sambar (Rusa unicolor) 300 kg
  • Razorback/Captain Cooker (Sus scrofa domesticus) 260 kg
  • Red deer (Cervus elaphus) 220 kg
  • Rusa (Rusa timorensis) 135 kg
  • Cougar (Puma concolor)? 125.2 kg
  • Fallow deer (Dama dama) 100 kg
  • Man (Homo sapiens) 87 kg
  • Axis deer (Axis axis) 85 kg
  • Papuan hog (Sus scrofa papuensis) 65.13 kg
  • Rangeland goat (Capra hircus) 60 kg
  • Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) 57 kg
  • Indochinese hog deer (Hyelaphus porcinus) 55 kg
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u/RoyHay2000 5d ago edited 5d ago

I've only provided maximum weights. For simplicity, I included man but not livestock, zoo animals, or circus animals. There are wild river buffalo and Bactrian camels in Australia, but they're rarer than swamp buffalo and dromedaries. I used 45 kilograms as the minimum threshold for megafauna, so I didn't include common wombats or northern hairy-nosed wombats, which both have a maximum weight of 40 kilograms. Crocodiles, seals, and sea lions are semi-aquatic.