Australia's 'marsupial lion' was a meat-ripping, tree-climbing terror
12 December 2018
The most detailed reconstruction yet of Australia’s extinct “marsupial lion” shows it was unlike any animal living today, shredding its prey like a Tasmanian devil, biting like a lion, and climbing like a koala.
The first partial remains of the fearsome predator – which went extinct about 45,000 years ago – were discovered in Victoria in the 1850s. British naturalist Richard Owen named it Thylacoleo carnifex – meaning “meat-cutting marsupial lion” – based on its large blade-like teeth and cat-like skull.
Other remains of T. carnifex were found in the 1960s and 70s, but it was only in 2002 that the first complete skeleton was discovered in a cave beneath the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. In 2005, another two mostly complete skeletons were found in a cave in Naracoorte, South Australia.
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Their reconstruction shows that T. carnifex would have measured over a metre long and over half a metre tall while standing on all four feet, with a weight of about 100 kilograms. “It was probably the size of a big pig,” says Wells. Like other marsupials, it carried its young in a pouch.
More:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2187990-australias-marsupial-lion-was-a-meat-ripping-tree-climbing-terror/
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