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The Radio weblog of Hal Rager

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Death-trap cave reveals fossil giants "Eight complete skeletons of prehistoric marsupial lions are among an astonishing menagerie of megafauna fossils discovered in a hidden cave in Australia's outback desert. Only partial skeletons have been found before. Among the creatures, all of which are now extinct, are extremely well-preserved partial skeletons of giant wombats (Phascolonus gigas) and a three metre-tall short-faced giant kangaroo (Procoptodon goliah). A smaller unidentified kangaroo with strange horn-like protrusions on its skull may well represent a new species. John Long, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the Western Australian Museum in Perth told New Scientist: "It's truly a phenomenal find. This is a most unique site, because you usually find the bones scattered. These articulated skeletons are largely intact and in one place, sitting on the surface."" [New Scientist] Their headline, not mine. Still, marsuipial lions! That is sooo cool. I'd love to work on a paleoentological project that had a human componnent. 6:21:40 PM    comment   trackback []

"The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future." --Stephen Ambrose. [Motivational Quotes of the Day] 6:08:22 PM    comment   trackback []