This November 2013 video is about the fossil of the largest platypus, discovered in Australia.
From Wildlife Extra:
Giant extinct toothed platypus discovered
A fossil of a prehistoric giant toothed platypus discovered in Australia
November 2013: A giant carnivorous platypus with razor sharp teeth once roamed the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, researchers from the University of New South Wales have discovered. Named Obdurodon tharalkooschild it is believed to have lived around 15 million years ago and was about one metre in length, twice the size of its modern day relative the peculiar looking, egg-laying, otter footed, beaver tailed duck-billed platypus. And unlike today’s relation it had functional, sharp teeth, which were used to slice and chew crayfish, frogs and small turtles.
The discovery of the new species’ tooth in a limestone deposit was made by Rebecca Pian, a PhD candidate at Columbia University and former UNSW Honours student, and Professor Mike Archer and Associate Professor Suzanne Hand, of the UNSW School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences.
“A new platypus species, even one that is highly incomplete, is a very important aid in developing understanding about these fascinating mammals,” says Rebecca Pian.
It is believed that, like other platypuses, it was probably a mostly aquatic mammal, and would have lived in and around the freshwater pools in the forests that covered the Riversleigh area millions of years ago.
“Discovery of this new species was a shock to us because prior to this, the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was a relatively linear one,” says Mike Archer. “Now we realize that there were unanticipated side branches on this tree, some of which became gigantic.”
The name Obdurodon tharalkooschild derives from the Greek for “lasting tooth” and an Australian folk story about the genus’ origin that features a strong-willed female duck who ignored her parents’ warnings and was set upon by Bigoon, a water-rat, leading to unusual-looking offspring.
The scientific description of this new species is here.
Related articles
- Fossil of largest known platypus discovered in Australia (sciencedaily.com)
- Horrifying Flesh-Eating Platypus once terrorized Australia (theregister.co.uk)
- Giant toothed platypus roamed Australia (abc.net.au)
- Giant Platypus Fossil Found In Australia Suggests Animal Twice The Size Of … – Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com)
- Giant toothed platypus unearthed (sciencealert.com.au)
- One tooth leads to giant platypus (smh.com.au)
A carnivorous platypus is unimaginable! They are too cute 🙂 I once saw it in the wild swimming in a turquoise lake at jenolan caves and it was just magic!
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Hi, today’s platypus is still carnivorous in a wide sense (eating worms etc.) Without teeth though.
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Ah.. Yeah it can eat worms 🙂
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Wikipedia says:
“The platypus is a carnivore: it feeds on annelid worms, insect larvae, freshwater shrimps, and yabbies (freshwater crayfish) that it digs out of the riverbed with its snout or catches while swimming.”
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Reblogged this on Wolf Is My Soul and commented:
Too bad it’s only a fossil…
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Thank you for your reblogs!
In evolution, species get extinct every now and then, as environments change.
We should now prevent present-day species, like the present platypus, becoming extinct *because of human activities*.
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I agree totally! What really scares me are the close extinction of our great predators and rhinos and elephants and so on. It would be a huge tragedy for our coming generations to not be able to see them.
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Definitely! Also smaller and/or not that spectacular wildlife species should not become extinct.
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