An Unforgettable Bite

Australia is a large island continent that holds some of the most diverse range of biogeography regions. It is the home to the endemic order of Marsupialia. These mammals are unique to the rest of the Mammalia class due to the fact that the female possesses a skin pouch. Some of the more well-known marsupials that exist today are the kangaroo, the wombat, and the koala (Thylacoleo Carnifex 2011). However, most individuals today are unaware of a species of carnivorous marsupials that once roamed Australia over 6,000 years ago. Thylacoleo carnifex, or better known as the marsupial lion, was the largest meat-eating mammal known to exist in Australia (Campbell 1999). its name Thylacoleo, meaning pouch lion, and carnifex, meaning butcher or tormentor perfectly fits its predator status. Although its name might suggest that it was a close relative of present day lions, T. carnifex was more closely related to koalas (Campbell 1999).

The remains of the first marsupial lion were originally discovered by Thomas Mitchell from the Wellington Valley in New South Whales in the early 1830s (Owen 1887). Mitchell came to the conclusion that a large extinct carnivore had existed previously because of a fossilized tooth that he discovered in the valley. All future fossil remains from there and other localities were sent to British paleontologist, Sir Richard Owen. In 1859, Owen was the first to describe the fossil and referred it to the extinct species Thylacoleo carnifex. This would be one of the first mammal fossils discovered in Australia. Owen would described the creature as “one of the fellest and most destructive of predatory beasts” (Owen 1887). For the next 100 years, the lion was only found in small fragmented fossils (Owen 1887).

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...s do not suggest attempts at breakage (Horton and Wright 1981).

Perhaps it is too premature to explore an additional paleoecological implication, namely that the human that had settled in Australia from the land bridge were in competition with Thylacoleo carnifex for the resources of meat from the megafauna (Horton and Wright 1981). To date, there has not been any archeological discovery that has been found which from fossil record predicts that humans might have been killing and eating the megafauna and depleting the supply of food for Thylacoleo carnifex. From the fossil record, we can only describe how the animal could have lived and its diet. There is not yet enough evidence that proves that humans killed off the lions. However, like most of the megafauna that died off after the ice age, the Thylacoleo carnifex could not adapt well enough (Trivedi 2004).