The history of the settlement of the Earth stretched for millions of years, divided into certain historical periods. For example, early, middle and late Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Jurassic - these and other stages occupied a huge number of millennia of development and formation of life on the planet. During these eras, mountains grew, huge continents separated, creating new ecosystems and forming completely unique life forms.
Judge them today modern man can only thanks to the work of paleontologists. Scientists, finding the skeletons of animals such as dinosaurs, which then replaced them with the first huge predators and a large number of herbivores, reveal the sequence of evolution of the animal world on the planet.
Oligocene Epoch
This period of the Earth's development took time from 25 to 38 million years ago. It is of great importance in the development of new forms of life, since it was at this time that the climate began to gradually cool, and vegetation came to replace the tropical forests, preferring temperateclimate.
During these millions of years, a huge glacier formed at the South Pole, which required a lot of sea water to create, which led to the shallowing of the oceans and the exposure of large areas of land. It was occupied by new forests and vast steppes, on which grassy vegetation appeared for the first time.
During this period, India traveled from south to north, swam across the equator, and became a neighbor of Asia, and Australia broke away from Antarctica forever. Thus, the once common ecosystem was divided, creating its own unique species on each new piece of land. For example, marsupials that developed on this continent “sailed away” together with Australia. It was here that in the late period of the Oligocene, the largest predator of that time, the marsupial lion, appeared. A photo of the appearance of the beast, created by scientists from its skeleton, can be seen in paleontological museums. They clearly show what power the animal possessed. The appearance of this predator was not accidental. Changes in nature led to it.
Predator habitat
As the land space filled with steppes increased more and more, this caused the emergence of a huge number of new species of herbivores, among which ruminants appeared for the first time. They became perboteria camels. In addition to them, such species of mammals as pigs, giant rhinos, buffaloes, deer and others have arisen.
The emergence of more than 25 million years ago a new plant species - grass, caused its rapid spread acrossplanet. She, unlike her predecessors, did not grow leaves at the top of the stem, but at the bottom. This allowed her to recover and grow very quickly after her first shoots were eaten by herbivores. This increased their population. Naturally, in conditions of such an abundance of food, predators have also evolved.
It was during the late Oligocene that the first dogs and cats appeared, as well as the marsupial lion. This unique creature possessed incredible strength and agility, and the absence of a large number of competitors led to a natural increase in its population.
Unique Predator
The scientific name of this animal is Thylacoleo carnifex, which means "Bullet Butcher" (executioner). It got its name not without reason, because, having caught its prey, this carnivore no longer released it from its deadly grasp. This is due to the structure of his front paws. With growth up to 80 cm in the back and up to 170 cm in length, it weighed from 130 to 165 kg, which put it in first place among the predators of Australia. Although he was a thunderstorm of the steppes, his relatives are either wombats and koalas, or possums and couscous.
Scientists have not yet come to a consensus, as the origin of the predator's unusual teeth is unclear. Their two-incisor structure resembles the jaws of rodents, which is extremely strange, since the marsupial lion (the photo below demonstrates this) adhered exclusively to meat nutrition. Typically, such a dental apparatus is inherent in those animals that consume plant foods. Thus, the Australian marsupial lion is rather an exception to the rule, according to which it is clear that the basishis carnivorous fangs lies herbivorous dental apparatus.
Description of the skeleton of the head of a marsupial lion
Only by the remains found by paleontologists, one can judge how dangerous this animal was. Investigating its structure, the scientists made conclusions about how he lived, hunted and what species the marsupial lion belonged to. The description of the animal says that it is a representative of the two-bladed order, which include kangaroos. These two animals have one more thing in common - the tail. Judging by the skeletons found in Australia, the marsupial lion used it for stability when he sat on his hind legs.
The skeleton of the predator's head indicates that it had a strong grip, and when it overtook prey and dug into it with its teeth, its powerful jaws tightened and did not release the victim until it weakened from blood loss.
The evolution of this carnivore began with small forms, like priscileo, which also belonged to the order of marsupials, lived on trees and were omnivores. Based on the found skeletons of these animals, one can trace how the structure of their jaws changed, showing a tendency to increase and lengthen the front incisors. It is from them, according to scientists, that the Pleistocene marsupial lion tilakoleo, which has a pair of sharp front teeth, originated.
Description of paws
For a long time, paleontologists did not have information about what the hind limbs of this animal were. All found skeletons were with a well-preserved front part and with paws that had one spaced thumb. This isallowed the marsupial lion to hold prey that exceeded its size.
Until the 21st century, it was not known how this animal walked and hunted. Scientists proceeded from the assumption that its structure is similar to the skeletons of ancient feline predators. A whole skeleton found in 2005 showed that the marsupial lion looked completely different from what they expected. Information obtained after the restoration of the appearance of the animal showed that its hind legs had a structure similar to that of a bear. The limbs were slightly turned inward, and also had an outstretched finger, which helps the beast to grasp the branches of trees.
Thus, it turned out that the beast put its hind legs on the surface completely, which allowed it to climb trees and rocks. After this information, the alleged predator of the savannah was relocated by scientists to forests located on the border with the steppes. Apparently, the marsupial lion was weak as a runner, so it hunted, waiting for its prey on a tree.
Description of the body
Telakolev had excellent muscles. Especially striking is his shoulder girdle, equipped with powerful and thick bones. In the middle of his shoulder, a strong bone of the correct form was found, to which, most likely, the muscles were attached. Thanks to them, its grip was deadly for the victim, since not a single animal, even equipped with deadly sharp teeth or claws, could escape from it. Although scientists have given it the name marsupial lion, its body structure and manner of hunting makes it look more like a leopard. He, as a representativefeline, knew how to climb not only trees, but also rocks. This was confirmed by deep traces of his claws, found in one of the caves in Australia. This animal is able to pull itself up with its forelimbs and maneuver at a height.
Sumcolva lifestyle
Based on the structure of the animal's skeleton, scientists came to the conclusion that it killed its victims in a matter of minutes with the help of long incisors of the lower jaw, and then tore apart with sharp molars. It is assumed that the main prey of this predator were diprotodons. They were the largest marsupials ever to have lived on the planet. They flourished between 1.6 million and 40,000 years ago. The largest of them exceeded the size of modern hippos and were up to 3 m long and 2 m high.
Considering that the marsupial lion reached only 70-80 cm in height and up to 170 cm in length, it was equipped with everything necessary to catch, hold and kill such large game. Apparently, the predator chose very large, but slow prey, since it did not have the ability to quickly overtake it in pursuit. He waited for the victim, sitting in ambush in the grass or on the branches of a tree.
Predator environment
According to the findings of paleontologists, the marsupial lion was the largest and most powerful predator in Australia for almost 2 million years. His arsenal of sharp teeth and claws, powerful muscles and a strong bone system made it possible to hunt without hindrance for such a long time. Thanks to climate change and the development of lush vegetation, which led to an increaseherbivore population, this predator had no competitors in the natural environment. His menu included goliath procoptodons - giant kangaroos. They reached 3 meters in height and were quite difficult prey for the marsupial lion, which does not know how to quickly move around the area.
The marsupial lion was not the only predator of that period. Together with him, the marsupial devil, the ancient ancestor of his eponymous descendant from Tasmania, hunted in the steppes. Unlike tilakoleo, the devil managed to survive to this day, but in the form of individuals not exceeding the size of an average dog. Among the victims of the marsupial lion, there are zygomaturuses - mammals that lived in the same period, similar to modern pygmy hippos, as well as palorchests, which received the name "giant marsupial tapir" from paleontologists. Its dimensions are comparable to a modern horse. Most of the animals of that period died out, but some have evolved and survived to this day.
Cause of extinction
Scientists are still arguing about the disappearance of the marsupial lion, since it had no enemies in its natural environment and global catastrophes also did not expose Australia to the risk of destruction. The most popular version is that such animals died out due to the fact that primitive people began to develop these territories 30,000 years ago.
The fact that the predator was still alive at that time, say the rock paintings, where it is present. People began to hunt animals, significantly reducing their population. In addition, they destroyed the lion, considering it their main rival insavannah. With the advent of humans, almost all of Australia's marsupial megafauna disappeared from the face of the earth.
Latest finds
Thanks to the findings of scientists made at the beginning of the 21st century in caves located on the Nullarbor Plain, science was able to study this predator in more detail. It was here that a whole skeleton of a marsupial lion was found, according to which they were able to restore its appearance. The animal fell into one of the caves and died there, unable to get out into the wild. In addition to him, many animals living in the same period accumulated in it, which could give an idea of who surrounded the predator and was its prey.
Black Book
Since 1600, during the time of geographical discoveries, a book of animals either extinct by that time or on the verge of extinction began to be kept. It includes mastodons, mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, cave bear, dodo, moa and marsupial lion. The number of animals that disappeared from the planet was awarded the Black Book, which is comparable to the number of extinct dinosaurs.
Unfortunately, more than 1000 species of fauna occurred in the last 500 years of human development, which either exterminated them or destroyed and polluted their habitat.
For example, in just 27 years, such a species of aquatic animals as the sea cow, discovered in the 18th century, was completely destroyed. For the sake of profit, such representatives of the fauna were exterminated, although before that they could exist for many millennia. Endangered animals and plants are described at the beginning of the infamous Red Book.extermination.
If the ancient predator were alive
Some scientists hypothesize who would win the fight if the marsupial lion was alive and met with the modern king of beasts. To get an answer, they will have to calculate the bite force of an ancient predator and compare it with the data of a lion. So far, such calculations have been made for the saber-toothed cat.
