Zygomaturus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ZygomaturusTemporal range: Pleistocene
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| Skeletal mount of Zygomaturus trilobus at the Melbourne Museum | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | †Diprotodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Zygomaturinae |
| Genus: | †Zygomaturus Macleay, 1857 |
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†Zygomaturus diahotensis |
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Zygomaturus was a giant, extinct marsupial that lived in Australia a long time ago. It roamed the land during the Pleistocene epoch, which was an ice age period. This amazing animal was related to modern-day marsupials like kangaroos and wombats.
Contents
What Zygomaturus Looked Like
Zygomaturus was a very large animal. It could weigh more than 700 kilograms (1,544 pounds). Imagine an animal as heavy as a small car! It stood about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall and was around 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) long.
This huge creature had a heavy body and thick, strong legs. Scientists believe it might have looked and moved a bit like a modern pygmy hippopotamus. It walked on all four legs, just like many other large animals.
Where and How Zygomaturus Lived
Zygomaturus preferred to live in the wet coastal areas of Australia. It also spread into the inner parts of the continent by following waterways like rivers.
Scientists think Zygomaturus either lived alone or in small groups. Its diet mainly consisted of plants. It probably ate reeds and sedges. It used its lower incisor teeth to scoop up clumps of these plants.
However, studies of its teeth show it ate different types of plants. This suggests it was a browser, meaning it ate leaves and twigs from shrubs and trees.
When Zygomaturus Disappeared
For a long time, people thought Zygomaturus died out about 45,000 years ago. But new discoveries have changed this idea. Fossils found in the Willandra Lakes Region in New South Wales show it lived much later. These fossils date back to about 33,000 to 37,000 years ago.
This makes Zygomaturus one of the last of the giant Australian animals, known as Megafauna, to disappear. This was after the first Aboriginal people arrived in Australia, which was around 50,000 years ago.
See also
In Spanish: Zygomaturus para niños
