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A gem treasure trove of gargantuan marsupial fossils — admit one name Kenny — has been uncovered in Australia . The off-white will facilitate researcher better empathize these ancient pouched mammals , and figure out why they go extinct .
These giant marsupials of the genusDiprotodonlived in what is now Australia from about 1.6 million years ago up until about 25,000 to 50,000 years ago . They roamed the continent eating flora , but exit out whenlarge figure of humansmoved into the area . Being such enormous animal — standing at 13 feet ( 4 beat ) and weighing up to 6,100 pounds ( 2,800 kilograms ) — Diprotodonlikely had to scarf down as much as 330 pounds ( 150 kilo ) of botany daily , enquiry has found .
An extinct marsupial mega-herbivore,Diprotodon optatum.
The researcher uncovered the remains of about 50Diprotodonindividuals at BHP Billiton Mitsui Coal ’s South Walker Creek mine situation in Queensland where researchers have been excavating since 2009 . The fossils date back 100,000 to 200,000 years ago , the investigator told the BBC .
" It ’s a paleontologists ' gold mine where we can really see what these megafauna were doing , how they in reality behaved , what their bionomics was , " study researcher Scott Hocknull , from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane , Australia , told the BBC . " With so many fossils it apply us a unequalled chance to see these animals in their surround , fundamentally , so we can reconstruct it . "
As to why theDiprotodonfossils were all found together , the researchers think the animals must have gotten pin somehow in what was a boglike surface area . They were possibly there taking asylum from dry conditions ( for example , a long drought ) that forced them to leave their normal environment in lookup of water . Other site , like Lake Callabonna , contain similar collection of Diprotodon skeletons — in that case , investigator recollect the gravid mammals gravel stuck in the mud as the lake bed dry out out during another retentive drouth .
The skeleton in the cupboard of these wombatlike animals did n’t fossilize peacefully , Hocknull told the BBC : " We ’re almost sure that most of these carcasses ofDiprotodonhave been rupture apart by both the crocodiles and the lizard , because we ’ve found shed tooth within their skeletons from both animals . "
The web site moderate one huge example of aDiprotodon , which the researchers nicknamed Kenny — one of the most well - preserved examples of the giant " furred rhino . " Its jawbone is more than 2 foot — about 28 inches ( 70 centimeters ) — long .
The research worker also found the tooth of a huge prehistoric lizard called megalania whose body would have been 20 ft ( 6 time ) long , and the dentition and body plate of aprehistoric crocodile . Towering superintendent - kangaroo up to 8 fundament ( 2.5 thou ) magniloquent , along with the remains of tiny frogs , rodents and Pisces , have also been discovered at the location — an of import find in what is now an extremely desiccated region , the researcher say .
" They will allow us to reconstruct what the environs was like when these giant were alive , and more significantly , what has changed to the ecosystem since then , " Hocknull told the Telegraph .
