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'Diprotodon optatum' is the scientific name for the Diprotodon, or giant wombat. The Diprotodon was the largest of the marsupials and probably the best known of Australia's megafauna, living many millennia ago. It stood 1.8 to 2 m high at the shoulder and was 3 to 3.8m long from head to tail.
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What is the scientific name for the Diprotodon?
The scientific name for Diprotodon is Diprotodon optatum. It was the largest known marsupial to have ever lived and is an extinct species from the family Diprotodontidae that lived in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch.
Is there proof that the diprotodon existed?
They found fossils
When the Diprotodon evolved what did it resemble?
I attached a link below.
How tall is a diprotodon?
The Diprotodon (giant wombat) no longer exists. When it did exist, it was the largest of the marsupials. It measured up to 1.7 m at the shoulder, and its length averaged 3.8 m from head to tail.
What is the life cycle of a diprotodon?
The Diprotodon's life cycle can only be guessed at, as it disappeared long before humans made any studies or observations of ancient fauna. The male was believed to be larger than the female, and also believed to mate with any number of females. The Diprotodon reared its young in a pouch, where the young fed from a teat in much e same way as today's wombats do. There are several cases where the skeleton of a female Diprotodon has been found with a baby still in its mother's pouch.
What are the enemies of a diprotodon?
The Diprotodon was the largest of the marsupials known in ancient Australia, so it had few predators. The now extinct marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) was believed to be a predator, given that a fossil Diprotodon bone was found near some marsupial lion teeth at a site in New South Wales, and sporting tooth marks matching those of the marsupial lion. Since the Australian Aborigines are believed to have contributed to the extinction of the Diprotodon through hunting and through changing the ecology by their fire regimes, it could be said that they, too, were its enemies.
Is the diprotodon considered a cryptid?
No. Cryptids are legendary creatures for which no hard evidence exists - only "sightings" which are unsubstantiated. Diprotodon (giant wombat) fossils have been found through much of outback Australia, giving solid evidence for the existence of these megafauna.
Are marsupials common in Australia?
The largest would have been the Giant Wombat (Diprotodon Optatum). There was also a marsupial lion, and a Mega-sized kangaroo. For proposed sketches See: http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/staff/swroe/Lostgiants.PDF
Why did the pterodactyl become extinct?
The diplodocus was extinct because not one but too giant 20 km long astroids hit the earth in a unspeekable speed as the fate of the diplodocus's exsistence faded with the rest of the giant reptiles leaving only mammals to pick up the peices and repopulate the earth witch soon created early humans but that is another story.
Which large mammal was found in Australia about the time humans arrived?
Short faced kangaroo, diprotodon (both extinct)
What is a diprotodon?
Diprotodon, or the Giant Wombat, or the Rhinoceros Wombat , was the largest known marsupial that ever lived. The largest specimens were hippopotamus-sized, about three meters (10 feet long) from nose to tail, standing two meters (6 ft 7) tall at the shoulder and weighing up to 2,786 kg (6,142 pounds).
What evidence do you have that the diprotodon existed?
A great deal of fossil evidence exists to show that the Diprotodon existed. Diprotodon (giant wombat) fossils are found throughout outback Australia. They have most commonly been found in the Darling Downs in southern Queensland; inland areas of New South Wales such as the Wellington Caves, Tambar Springs and Cuddie Springs; Bacchus Marsh in southern Victoria; and eastern parts of South Australia such as the Naracoorte Caves and Burra, and on King Island. Hundreds have been found in Lake Callabonna in South Australia, from animals apparently trapped in mud. There is also evidence that Diprotodons co-existed with the Australian Aborigines.
