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Meet the megafauna of Alcoota
Baru iylwenpeny
Baru ilywenpeny was a large crocodile about the same size of a modern saltwater crocodile. Baru was the largest predator of the Alcoota ecosystem.
Unlike modern crocodiles, Baru has a shorter, deeper snout with an overbite and a more muscular, heavily built body.
Dromornis stirtoni
A large male Dromornis may have reached 3 m in height and weighed as much as 700 kg – the weight of an adult African buffalo! It is one of the largest, if not the largest bird to have ever existed.
Dromornis were large flightless birds. They would have fed on leaves, shoots and fruits from trees and tall shrubs. They swallowed stones to help grind up their food.
Although they look a bit like emus, they are more closely related to ducks and geese. Their leg and foot bones are notably thick and robust for their length suggesting that Dromornis was not a fast runner.
Wakaleo alcootaensis
Wakaleo alcootaensis was the size of a leopard and was the largest mammalian carnivore in the Alcoota Fauna.
It is also extremely rare, all that has ever been found of its skull at Alcoota is three incomplete fragments of jaws and a few isolated teeth. Relatives of W. alcootaensis have been found elsewhere in Australia and we can use them to help in our understanding of this species.
The whole family is commonly referred to as "marsupial lions" but despite their predatory habits, they are actually related to herbivorous marsupials such as wombats and koalas.
Thylacinus potens
Thylacinus potens from Alcoota was related to the famous, and sadly extinct, Tasmanian Tiger. The jaws of the T. potens are larger than those of the Tasmanian tiger which initially suggests that the T. potens was a larger animal perhaps the size of a modern grey wolf.
However, the rest of the skeleton is the same size as the Tasmanian tiger indicating T.potens had a larger head and may have looked like a bulldog.
Ilbandornis lawsoni
Ilbandornis lawsoni is a genus of large flightless bird and is in the same family as the Dromornis stirtoni.
Ilbandornis lawsoni is the same size and proportions of an ostrich including the elongate lower leg and foot bones that indicate a fast-running species.
They may have preferred more open areas, where speed is needed to escape predators.
Kolopsis torus
Kolopsis torus
Plaisiodon centralis
Palorchestes painei
Palorchestes painei
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