Rare giant wombat jawbone discovered in Australia

This video says about itself:

16 August 2015

“Diprotodon”, meaning “two forward teeth”, is the largest known marsupial ever to have lived. Along with many other members of a group of unusual species collectively called the “Australian megafauna”, it existed from approximately 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Rare giant wombat jawbone found in Blue Mountains

July 27, 2007 – 11:11AM

A rare jawbone of a giant wombat that lived at least 20,000 years ago has been found at Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

A tour guide was doing his rounds at the caves when he stumbled on the large bone from a diprotodon, the largest known marsupial.

The long extinct diprotodon species was 2m tall by 3m long, or about as large as a hippopotamus, and could weigh as much as three tonnes.

The fossilised bone is more than 30cm long and between 20,000 and 40,000 years old, ABC radio reports.

Northern hairy-nosed wombat: here.

One of the world’s most endangered mammals, the northern hairy-nosed wombat, has stepped back from the brink of extinction, with its numbers undergoing the biggest jump for more than two decades: here.

Video captures rare baby hairy-nosed wombat taking first steps: here.

Southern hairy-nosed wombat: here.

Related articles

• Yet another species going extinct: Wombats in Australia starving to death (sott.net)
• Toronto Zoo banks on hairy-nosed love as wombat couple make public debut (metronews.ca)
• Australia’s New Extinction Crisis (abc.net.au)
• New Research Suggests Prehistoric 150-Pound Wombat Somehow Lived in Trees (geekosystem.com)
• more Beautiful Soup (richardmordenillustration.blogspot.com)
• Ancient tree-wombat behaved like a koala (abc.net.au)
• Meet The Baby Marsupial Trifecta That’s Poised To Steal The World’s Heart (huffingtonpost.com)