Australia is currently home to 17 species of hawks and eagles. Tens of thousands of years ago, however, there were more. What were they like? What happened to them? And what can we learn about past ecosystems and the extinction that wiped out the Australian mega-fauna, in studying such prehistoric birds?
In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Dr Ellen Mather, Adjunct Associate lecturer at Flinders University discuss all of these things and more, as they talk about several extinct species of eagle, including a much somewhat “chunky” eagle that could have plucked koalas from the tree!
You can read more in The Conversation article authored by Ellen, Professor Mike Lee, and Associate Professor Trevor Worthy…
“Giant eagles and scavenging vultures shared the skies of ancient Australia”
Here’s a direct link to the research…
“Pleistocene raptors from cave deposits of South Australia, with a description of a new species of Dynatoaetus (Accipitridae: Aves): morphology, systematics and palaeoecological implications”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2268780
A great article examining Ellen’s recent work on the discovery of vultures in Australia can be found here…
Ellen was also co-author for an article on a prehistoric species of eagle… https://theconversation.com/meet-the-prehistoric-eagle-that-ruled-australian-forests-25-million-years-ago-168249
You can find Ellen on Twitter at @Ellenaetus
https://twitter.com/Ellenaetus
Ellen previously spoke to us on Palaeo Jam in the following episode…
Season 1, Episode 5
“Vultures and flamingoes Down Under?
https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/vultures-and-flamingoes-down-under/
You can find Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills on Twitter at @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood
To connect with Dinosaur University on Facebook, follow us at
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Palaeo Jam also now has its own Instagram account at @palaeo_jam
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