The history of the settlement of the Earth stretched for millions of years, divided into specific historical periods. For example, the Early, Middle and Late Eocene, the Miocene, Pliocene, Jurassic - these and other stages occupied a huge number of millennia of development and formation of life on the planet. In these epochs mountains grew, huge continents were divided, creating new ecosystems and forming completely unique life forms.
Today, a modern person can judge them only thanks to the work of paleontologists. Scientists, finding the skeletons of animals such as dinosaurs, which then replaced their first huge predators and a large number of herbivores, reveal the sequence of evolution of the animal world on the planet.
The era of the Oligocene
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 in place of tropical forests came vegetation that prefers a temperate climate.
Over the millions of years, a huge glacier has formed at the South Pole, the creation of which required a lot of sea water, which led to the shallowing of the oceans and the exposure of large land areas. It was occupied by new forests and vast steppes, on which grassy vegetation first appeared.
During this period, India traveled from south to north, having crossed the equator, and became a neighbor of Asia, and Australia was forever cut off from Antarctica. Thus, the once common ecosystem was divided, creating its own unique species on each new land plot. For example, marsupial animals, which had their development on this continent, “sailed away” with Australia. It was here that in the late period of the Oligocene, the largest predator of that time appeared - the marsupial lion. A photo of the appearance of the beast, created by scientists on his skeleton, can be seen in paleontological museums. It clearly shows how powerful the animal was. The appearance of this predator was not accidental. It was led by changes in nature.
Predator habitat
As the land space filled with steppes increased more and more, this caused the appearance of a huge number of new species of herbivores, among which ruminants first appeared. They were camels of perboteria. In addition to them, mammalian species such as pigs, giant rhinos, buffalo, deer, and others arose.
The emergence of more than 25 million years ago a new type of plant - grass, caused its rapid spread around the planet. In her, unlike her predecessors, the leaves did not grow 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 stock. Naturally, in conditions of such an abundance of food, predators also passed their evolution.
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 dexterity, 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 "butcher's butcher" (executioner). No wonder it got its name, because, having caught its prey, this carnivorous animal no longer let it out of its mortal girth. This is due to the structure of his forepaws. With a height of up to 80 cm in the back and up to 170 cm in length, he weighed from 130 to 165 kg, which brought him to first place among the predators of Australia. Although he was a storm of the steppes, his relatives are either wombats and koalas, or possums and couscous.
Scientists have not yet come to a consensus, since the origin of the unusual predator teeth is not clear. Their double-edged structure resembles the jaws of rodents, which is extremely strange, since the marsupial lion (the photo below shows 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 a carnivorous dental apparatus is the basis of its carnivorous fangs.
Description of the skeleton of the head of a marsupial lion
Only by the remains found by paleontologists can we judge how dangerous this animal was. Examining its structure, scientists concluded how he lived, hunted and what kind of marsupial lion belonged to. The description of the animal says that this is a representative of the bipartis unit, which include the kangaroo. 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 sitting on its hind legs.
The skeleton of the head of the predator indicates that he had the strongest grip, and when he overtook the prey and dug into it with his teeth, his powerful jaws clenched and did not release the victim until it weakened from blood loss.
The evolution of this carnivore began with small forms, similar to priscileo, which also belonged to the order of marsupials, lived on trees and were omnivores. According to the found skeletons of these animals, one can track how the structure of their jaw changed, showing a tendency to increase and lengthen the front incisors. It is from them, according to scientists, that the Pleistocene marsupial lion, Tilacoleo, has a pair of sharp front teeth.
Description of paws
For a long time, paleontologists did not have information about what the hind limbs of this animal were. All the skeletons found were with a well-preserved front part and with paws that had one spaced thumb. This allowed the marsupial lion to retain prey exceeding it in 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 supposed. Information obtained after reconstructing the appearance of the animal showed that his hind legs had a structure similar to that of a bear. The limbs were slightly turned inward, and also had a spaced finger, helping the beast to grasp the branches of trees.
Thus, it turned out that the beast put its hind legs to the surface completely, which allowed him to climb trees and rocks. After this information, the alleged savannah predator was resettled by scientists in the forests located on the border with the steppes. Apparently, the marsupial lion was weak by the runner, so he hunted, waiting for his prey on a tree.
Body description
Telakolev had excellent musculature. Particularly striking is his shoulder girdle, equipped with powerful and thick bones. In the middle of his shoulder was found a strong bone of the correct form, to which, most likely, the muscles were attached. Thanks to them, his girth was fatal for the victim, since no animal could even escape from it, even equipped with deadly sharp teeth or claws. Although scientists gave it the name lion marsupial, the structure of its body and the manner of hunting makes it more like a leopard. He, as a representative of cats, was able to climb not only trees, but also rocks. This was confirmed by the deep traces of his claws found in one of the caves in Australia. This animal was skillfully pulled up by its forelimbs and maneuvered at height.
Sumkolva lifestyle
Based on the structure of the skeleton of the animal, 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 it apart with sharp molars. It is assumed that the main victims of this predator were diprotodons. These were the largest marsupials ever living on the planet. Their heyday came from 1.6 million to 40, 000 years ago. The largest of them exceeded the size of modern hippos and were up to 3 m in length and 2 m in height.
Given that the marsupial lion reached a height of only 70-80 cm, and a length of up to 170 cm, he was equipped with everything necessary to catch, hold and kill such a large game. Apparently, the predator chose a 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 an ambush in the grass or on tree branches.
Predator environment
According to the findings of paleontologists, the marsupial lion for almost 2 million years was the largest and most powerful predator in Australia. His arsenal of sharp teeth and claws, powerful muscles and a strong bone system allowed him to hunt for such a long time without hindrance. Due to climate change and the development of lush vegetation, which led to an increase in the number of herbivores, 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 a marsupial lion, not knowing how to quickly move around the area.
The marsupial lion was not the only predator of that period. Together with him, a marsupial devil, an ancient ancestor of his homonymous descendant from Tasmania, hunted in the steppes. Unlike tilacoleo, the devil managed to survive to this day, but in the form of individuals not exceeding the size of the average dog. Among the victims of the marsupial lion there are zygomaturuses - mammals living in the same period, similar to modern dwarf hippos, as well as palorchests, which the paleontologists received the name “giant marsupial tapir”. Its dimensions are comparable to a modern horse. Most of the animals of that period died out, but some evolved and survived to this day.
Cause of extinction
Scientists are still arguing about the disappearance of the marsupial lion, since he had no enemies in his natural environment and global catastrophes did not put Australia at risk of destruction. The most popular version is that such animals became extinct 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 is indicated by cave paintings where he is present. People began to hunt animals, significantly reducing their population. In addition, they destroyed the lion, considering it their main rival in the savannah. With the advent of people, almost the entire marsupial megafauna of Australia has disappeared from the face of the earth.
Recent finds
Thanks to the findings of scientists made at the beginning of the 21st century in caves located on the plain of Nullarbor, science was able to study this predator in more detail. It was here that a whole skeleton of a marsupial lion was found, by which they were able to restore its appearance. The animal fell into one of the caves and died there, failing 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 has been kept, either extinct by then, or on the verge of extinction. It includes mastodons, mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, cave bear, dodo, moa and marsupial lion. The Black Book has been awarded the number of animals that have disappeared from the planet, which is comparable to the number of extinct dinosaurs.
Unfortunately, more than 1000 species of fauna representatives fell on 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 a 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 survive for many millennia. At the beginning of the infamous Red Book, animals and plants threatened with extermination are described.
