Wombat fossil unearthed in Australia
July 7th, 2011 - 7:46 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattSydney, July 7 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists have unearthed a car-sized wombat in the northern part of Australia. The discovery which was made on Wednesday is the most complex of its kind that the scientists have come across. Wombats are extinct and scientists suggest that the animals roamed the surface of the planet between two million and 50,000 years ago.
The animal was herbivorous and the largest of the group of animals classified as marsupial. The animal could grow to be the size of three tons. The mystery of the creature’s demise is still a subject in the science community and archaeologists are hoping that the discovery will help unravel the mystery.
One of the scientists who made discovery in a remote part in Queensland is Prof. Sue Hand. She explained that “There’s been a lot of debate about what killed the megafauna and it’s quite a hot topic in paleontology… It will be very interesting to see its age and if people came in first, for instance, from the north. There could be some very interesting data to be extracted from this find.”
Sue said the animal was 11 feet and six inches long and stood at about 6 feet six inches tall. Scientists are currently carrying out investigation on the fossil.
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Tags: animals, archaeologists, australia sydney, demise, discovery, fossil, hot topic, megafauna, mystery, paleontology, queensland, science community, scientists, six inches, two million, wombat, wombats