Think again if you think Australia only has one giant wombat.
While the Diprotodon, the extinct megafauna species that is distantly related to wombats but was the size of a small car, is commonly thought of as Australia's "giant wombat," researchers have shed light on a large species that does
For the first time, a team led by Associate Professor Julien Louys from the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution has described the complete skull of a wombat.
Associate Professor Louys said the discovery provided unprecedented insights into the biology and appearance of these gentle giants.
He said that the extinct megafauna of Australia intrigues and amuses people all over the world. One of the most charismatic of the giant mammals to go extinct is Diprotodon. This is not correct as Diprotodon is not a giant pig.
True giant wombats were present. The discovery of the most complete skull of a giant wombat, called Ramsayia, has given us an opportunity to reconstruct what this creature looked like, where and when it lived, and how the evolution of giant wombats took place in Australia.
In the early 2000s, Associate Professor Louys's team discovered the cranium and mandible of the Ramsayia magna fossil, but it was only later that it was confirmed as belonging.
The giant wombats of the family Vombatidae are twice the size of modern wombats, which is why they're not called giant wombats.
Associate Professor Louys said thatRamsayia had not been reported before for a wombat.
He said that the wombat had a large skull for the attachment of chewing muscles. The wombat had a large nose and had a premaxillary spine.
All giant wombats evolved large body sizes first, then individually became specialized to eat different types of grasses. This species was found to be 80,000 years old. The first date for this species is much earlier than the arrival of humans in Australia.
The evolution of gigantism in wombats was discussed in the Papers in Palaeontology. There is a spp.
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