The koalas clambering around eucalyptus canopies may be cuddly herbivores, but their extinct relatives were horrifying predators.
The charismatic marsupials are the closest living relatives of marsupial lions — powerful carnivores that went extinct around 40,000 years ago. The findings are part of a study published November 12 in Proceedings B of the Royal Society that used durable proteins preserved in bones to reveal the evolutionary relationships of five strange, extinct Australian marsupials.
Until tens of thousands of years ago, Australia and nearby landmasses were home to a variety of large marsupial mammals. Unlike placental mammals, marsupials give birth to relatively small, underdeveloped young that are carried and nursed