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Even many animals that survive the fires, such as the long-footed potoroo, a rat-kangaroo that lives in southeastern forests, will face threats, said Brendan Wintle, a specialist in conservation ecology at the University of Melbourne.

In their study, Dr. Bennett and his collaborators tried to approximate the costs of re-establishing and maintaining 16 species that went extinct in the last millennium, including the Lord Howe pigeon and Eastern rat-kangaroo from Australia, and the laughing owl and Waitomo frog from New Zealand.

What's notable about this finding — besides the visual of a 500-lbs kangaroo walking around on two legs — is that, with the exception of the musky rat-kangaroo, every single species of kangaroo alive today hops.

Virtually all kangaroos today hop, although a species called the Musky Rat-kangaroo does not.

The favorite pastime of the employes at this pear station was to use the rat-kangaroo as a target while it sat motionless in the glare of a carbide light.