Bagged lions once existed

Australia today lacks large predators who live on land, but only about 30,000 years ago this continent was the territory of the Thylacoleo carnifex - a lion with a bag.

Some intact protected skeleton frames of a leopard-sized monster have been discovered. Currently, a cave photo recently brought the first information about the animal's appearance.

The picture illustrates a lion with a bag;The lines in the cave show that this animal has stripes on it.(Photo: Tom Willing (above); Peter Murray (below))

In June 2008, Tom Willing - a naturalist and tour guide - took a picture of an ancient cave painting near the northwestern coast of Australia. Kim Akerman - an independent anthropologist in Tasmania - said the drawing said he had learned a bag of lions that could not be confused.

The animal has a cat-like muzzle, large forelimbs, and heavy claws in front. It also depicts striped animals in the back, tail, and pointed ears.

These three characteristics are not found in skeletons, but Aboriginal people probably know a lot about them. The first Australian residents arrived in the continent at least 40,000 years ago, living here at the same time as this large predator.

Previous stone paintings also give people the idea that bagged lions actually exist, but these are just initial thoughts and those paintings can depict a predator. There are also pockets and other stripes - it is a Tasmanian tiger that has the size of a dog. The Tasmanian tiger has been unable to cope with human competition since 1936, just as the bag of lions lived in millennia.

The discovery is published in detail in Antiquity magazine.