Demon Ducks of Doom?

prester writes "The BBC has an article on an Australian exhibit on its way to the UK about the nasty creatures of prehistoric Australia. Among them the 3m high carnivorous "Demon Duck of Doom" and the "drop croc," a crocodile that was believe to drop out of trees on its victims. And there were people living there at the same time as these things. Yikes!"

Comments

Re:Ouch.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. All these animals seem to fit into the same picture as other massive prehistoric megafauna. Kangaroos and ducks exist, so why is it bizarre to expect that carnivorous forms of these animals could also exist? It's not like they're discovering animals with vastly different body plans or survival skills than other animals previously discovered. It's simply that these animals in particular represent a new and different variety of the standard post-Jurassic mammalian/avian bestiary. But they don't diverge from that bestiary any more than Australia's contemporary wildlife differs from the rest of the world's.