Bluff+Downs+and+Winton+(Qld)

__ Bluff Downs and Winton (QLD) __

Fossil evidence at Bluff Downs (central Qld) 4 million years ago is characterised by huge marsupials and reptiles, such as an 8m long python. This was a wetland environment that supported fauna that no longer exist. Species that lived here include flamingos, a koala like mammal, ancestral dasyurids, marsupial lion, kangaroos, bandicoots and wombats.


 * Similarities: **

Bluff Downs Bandicoot ( [|Perameles] ):
 * Similar to the modern day bandicoot
 * Still around today
 * Short living pregnancy like the bandicoots today (12 days)

// Euryzygoma dunense: //
 * Similar to the modern day Wombat [[image:http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/7287/Euryzygoma_big.jpg width="155" height="109" align="right" caption="Euryzygoma Dunense"]]

Bluff Downs Giant Python (Liasis):
 * Its nearest living relative is the Olive Python (Liasis olivacea).
 * Estimated to have grown to 10 m making it at least a meter longer than two of the longest snakes in the world

Bluff Downs Flamingo ( Phoenicopterus ):
 * Fossils of flamingos have been found in other sites across Australia including older localities in South Australia [[image:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3494/3219696680_0bb672878b.jpg width="250" height="177" align="right" caption="Bluff Downs Giant Python"]]



**Describe Australian fossils and where these fossils are found:**

PERAMELES – bandicoot Age: 4 million years ago Importance: oldest known bandicoots of the kind called peramelids (still alive today)

EURYZYGOMA Age: 5 to 2 million years ago Importance: closely related to the largest known marsupial, the massive Diprotodon

LIASIS – giant python Age: 4 million years ago Importance: the nearest relative is the Olive Python and it was the largest Australian snake ever.

Fossils contribute to the development of understanding about the evolution of species in australia by helping us understand which older species are similar to the modern day versions. This provides an understanding of where certain species evolved from. Fossils give us information about how animals and plants lived in the past including extinct ones. They also help us understand what the ancient environment was like, seen by the types of teeth and features of most animals in the fossils dating back to the same time period. By looking at the fossil record we can tell how long life in australia has existed and how different plants and animals are related to one another. We can often work out how and when the animals survived.
 * Explain how fossils contribute to the development of understanding about the evolution of species in Australia.**