Bizarre, prehistoric carnivore remains found in Australian forest
By ANISaturday, July 10, 2010
MELBOURNE - Scientists have unearthed the remains of a bizarre, prehistoric, carnivore in an ancient former rainforest.
“It may be that it’s a type of bandicoot or a marsupial related to native cats,” ABC Science quoted Paleontologist Henk Godthelp of the University of New South Wales, as saying.
“It looks like it had a head a bit like a badger, but with fangs nearly as half as long as its skull.
“It’s an animal we don’t think we’ve seen before up at Riversleigh so it was quite a nice find for us,” he added.
Riversleigh, in north-western Queensland, was a prehistoric rainforest which is now a rich hunting ground for fossils and ancient remains.
Scientists will now use acid to dissolve the rock that contains the skull, in the hope of finding the remains of its body.
Godthelp will use acid to dissolve the rock that contains the skull, in the hope of finding the remains of its body.
“As we’re extracting the bones from the rock, we harden them up to make sure they’re preserved properly,” he says. (ANI)
