Scientists have discovered a cave with 15-million-year-old prehistoric marsupial fossils in the Australian outback. The animals bear a striking resemblance to today’s kangaroos and koalas.
The researchers unearthed a treasure trove of very well-preserved fossils, including26 skulls of an extinct marsupialsimilar touombat(Australian bear cub). It has been baptized asNimbadon lavarackorum, and it is a creature the size of a sheep with huge claws. The discovery is published this week in theJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“It has opened a window to the Australian past of which we did not have a glimpse. It sheds new light on one of the strangest animals that one can conceive,” said paleontologist Mike Archer of the University of New South Wales, co-author of the report. The discovery suggests that the primitive animals moved in herds just like thekangarooscurrent, said paleontologist Karen Black, who led the research team.
Researchers have been excavating the Riversleigh fossil site in north-west Queensland since 1990, discovering the first skulls ofNimbadonin 1993. At the moment it is a mystery how so many animals ended up gathered there. One possible theory is that they accidentally fell into the cave through an opening hidden by vegetation and died in the fall or were trapped.
Among the skulls, those of cubs have appeared still inside the mothers’ ventral pouch, which allows us to study how they developed. The analyzes suggest thatthe cubs developed very similarly to modern kangaroos, probably born after a gestation of one month and then crawl to the bag to complete its development, as explained by Black.
TheNimbadonIt might also have something in common with another marsupial, as the creatures had large claws that they could have used to climb trees, just as the creatures do.koalas.
