Diprotodon

extinct marsupial · Australia · giant animal · ice age

Giant marsupial cousin. Diprotodon was the largest marsupial that ever lived, about the size of a modern hippopotamus. It was related to today's kangaroos and wombats, even though it looked nothing like them.

Two front teeth. Its name means 'two front teeth' in Greek, and like other special marsupials called diprotodontids, it had two large front teeth for browsing plants. These teeth kept growing throughout its life, kind of like a wombat's teeth do today.

Australian giant. Diprotodon roamed the grasslands and woodlands of ancient Australia between about 1.77 million and 40,000 years ago. Most of the fossils we've found are from the last 110,000 years of its existence.

Mystery solved. When scientists first dug up Diprotodon bones in 1830 at Wellington Caves in New South Wales, they weren't sure what animal they'd found. They guessed it might be a rhino, elephant, hippo, or even a sea creature called a dugong.

Plant muncher. Diprotodon ate leaves and shrubs by browsing on vegetation, similar to how modern giraffes and moose feed today. Its big body needed to eat lots of plants to stay alive.