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Koalas and wombats used to have a carnivorous cousin!

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Koalas and wombats used to have a carnivorous cousin!

Koalas are known to be cute and cuddly, but they have a vicious cousin. Thankfully, this cousin, the Marsupial Lion, is now extinct. As it's name suggests, this animal was a marsupial so it carried it's young in a pouch, like Koalas and Kangaroos do.

It lived during the Pleistocene period - somewhere between 1.6 million and 46,000 years ago.

The Marsupial Lion was the largest meat-eating animal to have ever lived in Australia - as far as we know. It stood at 30 inches at the shoulder and about 59 inches from head to tail. They averaged about 220-260 pounds, similar in size to today's large cats.

It has powerful jaws and retractable claws. These claws along with it's semi-opposable thumbs allowed it to skillfully climb trees. Although it's skeleton suggests that it was not a very fast runner so it likely ambushed it's prey rather than chasing it down.

(Source)


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