All good points, but do you not also think that Australia has a nasty habit of doing exactly that!
Look at Australia compared to Africa. Africa has several carnivores that fill each niche.
Large carnivores you have lions, leopards, hyenas etc
Medium sized carnivores you have cheetahs, jackals etc and so on? (this is only a rough guide) but in Australia you only seem to have one animal in each roll. Large-thylacoleo, medium thylacine, small quolls-devils. Introduce a new species and you seem to lose one. 50 000 years ago, man enters as the large carnivore, goodbye Thylacoleo. 3000 years ago dingos arrive and mainland thylacines go?.200 years later we introduce dogs and the dingos are all but gone (though probably breed away then anything else). Cats and foxes are now well on their way to taking over the small carnivore roll.( I have left out snakes and crocs as we seem to match each other here)
Everything also seems to be closely related as well. You really only have a handful of species, and most of these are still reasonably related. Certainly we have never had the interspecies mingling that other continents have had, and in no way am I trying to compare modern Australia to prehistoric Australia (environment etc), I?m just trying to point out that some environments do indeed do exactly that- they do produce vast, continent filling numbers of animals from a very small original stock.
Now let me ask you, is it not more then likely that two fossils, found in locations that would have been reasonably close at the time (though separated by a gulf in time), that seem to be similar (with what little is now for the oz polar allosaur) are more likely to be somehow related then not? Or should we, like the first Europeans to arrive in Australia, try and link our animals to those that are already known rather then find our own, and more exciting evolution heritage? Should we not look for more plausible reasons for how our animals came to appear here?
Personally I find it so much more likely that The Australian polar Allosaur is actually closely related-or share a common ancestor- with an animal that was found in or near the locality of its discovery.
I hate to do this- but walking with dinos may have got it partly right when they showed all our lovely Australian dinosaurs in Antarctica!, would the reverse not also be possible?
Phil Hore
National Dinosaur Museum
Canberra, Australia
ph (02) 62302655
A child was brought into this world. A child of light and innocence. A beautiful child of with talent, grace and integrity. A child to lead us into a glorious future....his name...John Wayne.
I've seen all his movies!
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