Wakaleo vanderleuri
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| Wakaleo vanderleuri Fossil range: Miocene |
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| †Wakaleo vanderleuri Clemens & Plane, 1974 |
Wakaleo vanderleuri is a species of "marsupial lion" that lived in Australia during the Miocene (approximately 16 to 10 million years ago). It is not closely related to true cats, as being a marsupial its closest living relatives are wombats and the Koala. This diprotodont is hypothesized to have been an omnivore, eating significant amounts of meat, perhaps more like a bear in diet and habit than like an actual lion. It lacked large canine-like fangs, producing some controversy regarding just how much it actually preyed on living animals. The meat-eating hypothesis is based largely upon the morphology of its molar teeth. The species is believed to have been able to hunt by leaping from trees onto its prey.[1]
The type species fossils were originally found in the Bollock Creek area.
[edit] References
- ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perrenial, 101. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.
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