Palaeontologists uncover mystery of marsupial lion bones

May 4, 2023 9:46 PM

Palaeontologists uncover mystery of marsupial lion bones in Wellington Caves excavation. Weighing up to 164 kilograms, the marsupial lion was the largest mammal predator ever found in Australia and preyed on other megafauna such as the diprotodons between 2 million and 46,000 years ago.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (7 comments total)

This is excellent! I take part in a yearly state-wide training exercise held at the Wellington Caves complex, on Wiradjuri country; we practice rescue techniques around the caves. It's limestone karst, and just a stunningly beautiful part of the world, but huge areas are marked 'do not enter', since it's covered in random holes you don't see until you put your foot in one. When we go into the caves we often find animal bones, or even relatively fresh animal carcasses, because they fall in and can't get out, and even hungry live ones. Lots of the caves are full of microbats, you see them flitting in and out of the beam of your headlamp. I don't know that it's a mystery about how the fossils got there. (But still—cool research to do, in a wonderful place).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 11:20 PM on May 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

So these were like a bigger, more deadly version of a Tasmanian devil? Pretty scary beasts.
posted by Phanx at 3:47 AM on May 5, 2023

So these were like a bigger, more deadly version of a Tasmanian devil? Pretty scary beasts.

Diprotodon grew as large as 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulders, over 4 m (13 ft) from head to tail, and possibly almost 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) in weight.

Thylacoleo was probably only going after very young or sick Diprotodon, but that's still very impressive.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:20 AM on May 5, 2023

When I was a kid, one of my mum's friends had a kid about the same age as me, and we'd often play Dinosaurs together when our mums were doing whatever boring things adults do with tea or box wine or whatever. You know, Dinosaurs. The one where you pretend to be dinosaurs because of dinosaurs.

Then one time my Dinosaurs buddy insisted that he was not a dinosaur, he was thylacoleo. Outrage. Offense. That's a mammal! NO IT ISN'T, IT'S A MARSUPIAL, you idiot!

Then he got out his book of Australian megafauna (there had probably been some exhibition or something with a tie-in book) which had a picture of a thylacoleo jumping on a giant kangaroo.

Reader, it was rad.

Everyone was thylacoleo after that.
posted by prismatic7 at 5:21 AM on May 5, 2023 [18 favorites]

the time it takes for my eyes to read certain thread post titles and my brain to conjure 'chariot pulled by cassowaries'

you have a delightful brand, cpbc!
posted by elkevelvet at 7:53 AM on May 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

but think of the toy possibilities of a soft lion with a tiny cub in pouch!
posted by scruss at 12:49 PM on May 6, 2023

"The larger animals will actually fall in through what's called a solution pipe in the ceiling of the chamber, and that's often only a metre or less wide," he said.

r/marsupialcatsareliquid
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 6:49 PM on May 6, 2023