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Giant Koala

Giant Koala Model
Thousands and a millions of years ago, Australia went through a boom of Megafauna. Cow-sized Wombats! Huge Kangaroos! Massive Snakes! There was even a Giant Koala!

Unfortunately... the Giant Koala wasn't really all that giant. Fossils demonstrate that the species was about 1.3 larger, but much heavier and more robust.

What makes the species really interesting is that they happened to live side by side with modern Koalas. They were not their ancestors, but rather their genus sharing cousins. This brings up questions regarding where Koalas actually came from, as for a long time they were considered to be descendants of the Giant Koalas. So far the fossil record hasn't provided the full picture (which is common, as there are very exact conditions that must be met for something to fossilize).

Unfortunately, we do not know what caused the extinction of the Giant Koala. But with modern Koalas facing a similar fate, we may see history tragically  repeat itself.
Status : Extinct for 50,000 years
Location : Australia
Size : Weight around 30lbs (13kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Infraclass : Marsupialia
Order : Diprotodontia -- Family : Phascolarctidae -- Genus : Phascolarctos -- Species : P. stirtoni
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Comments

  1. Sandra Van BeatDecember 12, 2011 at 5:13 AM

    It is so sweet, I bought one koala toy to my daughter and now she goes nowhere without it, they are really very nice animals!

    ReplyDelete
  2. David HouseDecember 16, 2011 at 6:41 AM

    Such a gentle and gracious animal. Koalas are simply amazing.

    ReplyDelete

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