Posted on 07/27/2007 10:19:54 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SYDNEY (AFP) - Scientists in Australia announced Friday they had found the jawbone of a giant wombat the size of a large car that lived 20,000-40,000 years ago.
The jawbone of the ancient marsupial, part of the "mega-fauna" that once roamed pre-historic Australia, was found by a tour guide at the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
The animal, named the diprotodon, was two metres (6.5 feet) tall and three metres (10 feet) long, weighing about three tonnes.
By comparison, modern wombats are about one metre (three feet) long, 25 centimetres (10 inches) high and weigh 20-45 kilogrammes (44-100 pounds).
University of New South Wales palaeontologist Michael Archer said the discovery, the first so close to Sydney, could herald a major scientific site at the Jenolan Caves.
"If there's one jaw, there has to be more material and it could theoretically be on the edge of the beginning of a very large deposit and this is the first bit poking out of the wall and that there are some really fascinating mega-fauna fossils in this cave," he said.
Spanish motocycle rider Alex Bautista poses with a wombat at the Maru Koala Park, Austrlia, in September 2006. Modern wombats are about one metre (three feet) long, 25 centimetres (10 inches) high and weigh 20-45 kilogrammes (44-100 pounds). Scientists in Australia have announced that they had found the jawbone of a giant wombat the size of a large car that lived 20,000-40,000 years ago.(AFP/File/Paul Crock)
Not the best phrasing.
L
Thanks Lurker.
Put up on blocks and stored, imagine what that car would be worth today on Ebay.
You know, I’ve been having this funny idea that perhaps bones, during fossilisation, mineral absorption probably causes the distortion of the sizes of the bones, to greatly exaggerated forms.
For example, those ancient dragon-fly fossils with metre-wide wingspans, don’t seem too practical to be able to fly on membranous wings, leave alone the chances that they might break like twigs, when flapped.
What do you think?
He is so cute and the gerbil is cute too;)
That might work for the recently deceased, or still living, in transitory medium such as snow; distortion of (for example) footprint castings is sometimes cited or claimed. I don’t think it’s the case with meter-wide dragonflies though. :’)
Think also about paper airplanes, hand-folded, and ready to glide. No wing-snapping there. Now imagine a wing surface 20 to 30 times larger, stiffer and stronger than paper, carrying something that weighs perhaps 4 to 8 oz. The biggest threat would be predators, not least spiders and their webs.
What if the fossils themselves are repeatedly being remineralised, with the most exposed parts getting more deposition than the corners and nooks, thus preserving shape?
Those dragonflies seem to delicate to be able to fly, for their size, lol!
Paper planes don’t have rapidly-flapping wings!
Most animals held in such a way would probably be clawing to get away or into another position, and look at the animal's claws, they look pretty long.
Egad.
holy crap, the normal version of those things is bigger than I thought...for some reason I thought wombats were much smaller...like bush babies or something..
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