World's first complete marsupial lion skeleton excavated by WA Museum

30/7/02
Premier Geoff Gallop today unveiled an exquisitely preserved skeleton of Australia's largest and most ferocious mammal carnivore, the marsupial lion, excavated from a cave on the Nullarbor by the Western Australian Museum.
Dr Gallop said the excavation had resulted in the world's first complete and intact skeleton of Australia's ancient predator, the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo (pronounced Thy-lac-oh-lee-oh).
"The discovery of one of the world's most interesting and controversial ancient predators is undoubtedly one of WA's most significant fossil finds for many decades," he said.
"The Thylacoleo skeleton is so well preserved that it looks like the animal died very recently.
"It will be on display at the WA Museum from today, giving the people of WA an opportunity to view the remarkable find."
The bones of several other Thylacoleo specimens were also found in the caves, as well as the remains of other types of extinct animals, including giant wallabies and kangaroos.
These caves on the Nullarbor are now recognised as one of the most important megafauna sites in Australia.
The megafauna site was found a few months ago by cavers who reported the discovery to the South Australian Museum, which realised the site was on WA crown land and relayed the good news to the WA Museum.
The cavers who made the discovery were Ken Boland, Ray and Chris Gibbons, Peter Ackroyd, Nicholas White, Darrel Carr, Margaret James, Paul Devine and EveTaylor.
WA Museum curator Dr John Long led an expedition team to the site.
"This find has the potential to be amongst the most important fossil sties in Australia," Dr Long said.
"The dating on the site will be crucial to testing the theory that megafauna died out uniformly around 46,000 years ago in Australia.
"The discovery of preserved ancient DNA in the marsupial lion could be far more exciting news in providing new information about its evolutionary origins."
Dr Long commended the cavers who discovered the find, because they did not touch the skeleton nor the surrounds, aware of the fragility of the bones and the possibility of contamination.
The expedition team included the WA Museum Documentary Unit, which will make a special feature about the excavations.
The documentary will be funded by Rio Tinto as project partners through the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund. As the WA Museum's project partner, Rio Tinto are generously supporting the recovery, display and ongoing research.
Their contribution will allow ongoing research and dissemination of the results through exhibitions and the documentary.
Premier's office: 9222 9475