A giant, wombat-like marsupial that roamed Ice Age Australia, may have been much bigger than experts previously believed.
The beast, known as Diprotodon optatum, may have been larger than all but the biggest hippopotamus or rhinoceros, according to the first rigorous experimental estimate of its bulk by scientists in Sydney, Australia.
Experts now believe that Diprotodon weighed in at a whopping 6,142 pounds (2,786 kilograms), or nearly 32 times as heavy as the largest marsupial alive today, the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus). Red kangaroos rarely weigh more than 187 pounds (85 kilograms).
Diprotodon has been known in the fossil record to scientists since the 1830s. Previous estimates suggested Diprotodon was slightly bigger than a large cow.
The animal lived during the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene Period—the era from two million to 10,000 years ago. The beast went extinct sometime between 45,000 to 35,000 years ago, soon after human colonization of Australia.
Full Story