Tree Climbing Lion!

A bone-filled cave with claw marks was discovered in Australia, suggesting an extinct, “anatomically bizarre” lion was able to climb trees and roc

16:36 16 February 2016

Thylacoleo carnifex, Australia’s extinct marsupial lion, weighed more than 100kg and had sharp claws, powerful jaw and shearing teeth that could rip through the flesh of its prey, including rhinoceros-sized herbivores, kangaroos and even humans.

 

While experts agree that it could have been the continent’s top predator about 50,000 years ago, they have yet to agree if the animal can climb trees and rocks. Some speculated that the animal can lend itself to climbing while others argued that they would have been too heavy to go higher places.

 

Associate professor Gavin Prideaux, who supervised the research, said: "[Our findings indicate] the [marsupial] lions were running up and down these rock piles to get out of the cave, and they weren't using the lower-gradient, longer route,"

 

"We can be confident now and say that they could climb.

 

"And if they could climb really well in the dark, underground, there's no reason they couldn't climb trees.

 

"They would have been a very significant threat to people when they first arrived in Australia.

 

"What we're dying for are different lines of evidence that shed light on the behaviour or ecology of these animals, and that's what we've been presented with in the form of these claw marks."