Giant echidnas weighing 15kg roamed Victoria – and the evidence was hiding in plain sight
A skull fragment found in a tray of unsorted fossils collected more than a century ago leads to discoveryFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news...
By Donna Lu · The Guardian World
A skull fragment found in a tray of unsorted fossils collected more than a century ago leads to discovery Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A prehistoric fossil, hiding in plain sight in museum storage for more than a century, has revealed that giant echidnas once roamed Victoria. The Owen’s giant echidna, Megalibgwilia owenii , lived during the Pleistocene , a geological epoch that began 2.5m years ago. It grew to about 1 metre long and weighed up to 15kg – about twice the size of Australia’s modern echidnas. Continue reading...