Massive Marsupials Once Swung from Treetops Down Under

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Reconstruction of Nimbadon lavarackorum mother and juvenile (Image credit: Peter Schouten, PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048213.g002)

Some 15 million years ago, mobs of 150-pound (70-kilogram) marsupials roamed the treetops of Australia's rain forests, researchers say.

Nimbadon lavarackorum belonged to a family of large-bodied marsupials known as the diprotodontids that went extinct about 11,000 years ago. During the diprotodontids' reign in Australia, they ranged from sheep-size wombatlike creatures to the mega-herbivore Diprotodon, which stood at 13 feet (4 meters) tall and weighed up to 6,100 pounds (2,800 kg).

The researchers said they found striking similarities between Nimbadon skeletons and those of current koalas, including strong forelimbs, large claws and highly mobile shoulder and elbow joints. These features, combined with the Nimbadon's short hind limbs, suggest that the animals had excellent climbing and grasping skills and also could have used their long, flexible arms to suspend themselves from branches and reach for food and supports.

Composite Nimbadon lavarackorum skeleton from AL90, Riversleigh. (Image credit: PLoS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048213.g001)

Even though the diprotodontids were thought to have lived on the ground, all these characteristics point to a life in the trees, which would make Nimbadons the largest herbivorous mammals to have ever lived in the forest canopies of Australia — an ecological niche that is now empty, the researchers say.

"The findings presented here indicate that we are only beginning to understand the range of morphological and niche diversity displayed by this ecologically important and widespread group of Australasian marsupials — the diprotodontids," the researchers concluded.

The study, led by a team from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, was published online Nov. 21 the journal PLoS ONE.

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Megan Gannon
Megan Gannon
Live Science Contributor
Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.