In Australia, opened a new animal, but it is already extinct
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Porcupine were herbivores the size of a dog
In 1973, one of the dried up reservoirs of Australia there were strong winds, because of what he has lost quite a thick layer of sand. It appeared this time under the loose soil was kept the remains of numerous animals that got stuck in the mud about 25 million years ago and subsequently died. Their study many years was engaged in by a group of researchers led by paleontologist Dick Tedford (Dick Tedford) in the course of scientific work, they managed to open absolutely new to science, animal. From this point it took a very long time, but scientists have officially described unexpectedly found only recently. A new animal has received the name porcupine (Mukupirna nambensis) — according to the researchers, it was like a huge hamster. Unfortunately, these unusual creatures have long been extinct.
New animals
Once at the bottom of a dried-up pond animal bones were found, scientists began carefully to find out if there are any remains of animals in greater depth. They could not use shovels, and especially a great technique, because if under the ground there are other bones, heavy tools they are easy to be damaged. So to be accurate "intelligence", the researchers carefully pushed into the ground the metal rod. When the rod is stopped, the scientists began to dig a certain piece of land. Eventually they found the bones of a fairly large and previously unknown animal. Reported about it .
the Fragment of the skull of an ancient animal Australia
After Examining the bones, the researchers came to the conclusion that the mysterious animal weighed about 170 pounds. Outwardly, it looked like a very large wombat — marsupial creatures of Australia, which looks like a cross between a small bear and a large hamster. It has been suggested that the found animal is the ancestor of modern wombats. The old man was given the name Mukupirna nambensis, which is composed of two words of the Australian aborigines: "muku" means "bone" and "pirna" — "big".
Researchers believe that porcupine had powerful forearms and could easily excavate the ground. But why they needed the skill of digging, it is not clear, because of their large size, they could hardly hide in burrows. But the well-wombats live in burrows, which represent a whole system of various tunnels. Most of these systems reach 20 meters in length and 3.5 meters in depth. In these caves wombats rest of the day and in the evening get out of them to eat roots of plants, mushrooms and berries.
Here are modern wombats. Cute, right?
Porcupine also ate vegetation, but only soft varieties. This is evidenced by the fact that located at the cheek teeth was very low that would not allow pet to grind solid food. With all this, the teeth were well developed roots. Most likely, ancient relatives of wombats ate soft leaves of plants that grows in the tropical forests in which they lived.
Judging by the remains of the pollen before in Australia, there were few meadows, but a lot of the rainforest
Animals of Australia
On the tropical origin of the ancient creatures said pollen that was found at the scene of the discovery of animal bones. Apparently, in addition to porcupines, they lived kangaroos and koalas. Also in this area was clearly inhabited by marsupials lions of Wakaleo schouteni, which in size was comparable to a dog and weighed about 23 kilograms. About this animal became known in 2017 — the remains of a skull with teeth and a humerus, were found near the Australian state of Queensland.
lion Marsupial Wakaleo schouteni in the representation of the artist
Generally, Australia is an amazing place which is inhabited by the most unusual creatures of our planet. For example, recently my colleague Love Sokovikova told me that there was discovered the longest animal in the world. Its length reaches an impressive 47 meters, but there is one interesting feature — in essence, this is a very large colony of tiny creatures. To learn more about this animal can be .
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