Exposed strange creatures weighing 1 ton, clawed dagger, tapir face

A giant creature, muscular, dagger-like claws . probably the lost ancestors of the marsupial marsupial animals in Australia.

The team from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) used 60 fossils of different geological ages to recreate the portrait of an unknown creature, given the scientific name palorchestid .

Palorchestid or Palorchestes azael (left) when standing next to a common tapir (middle) and humans (right) - (photo courtesy of the research team).

The strange creature was described as a "monster" carrying the skull of a tapir with a characteristic long snout, but weighing up to 1,000kg. It has a terrifying " dagger claw ", extremely muscular forelegs but no elbow joints - a feature unmatched by any living or extinct relative. The animal also has small eyes, the tongue always sticks out. It has been identified as a marsupial mammal (Marsupialia).

It is estimated that this creature wandered in Australia 25 million years ago. It has a more famous cousin, Diprotodontidae , which is also a large Pleistocene creature shaped like a naked bear.

Fossils of palorchestid fossils.Fossils for research were taken from museums across Australia and Australia and the London Museum of Natural History (UK) - (photo courtesy of the team).

However, unlike relatives who dig for food, the dagger claws are too large and the palorchestid's two elbows are unlikely to be suitable for excavation. So, the way they live and what they eat remains a mystery.

Another big mystery is that the palorchestid seems to be extinct earlier than other giant animals. The more evolution it evolved, the larger it seemed and the more it became solitary. Palorchestid is quite sparsely distributed across Australia, different from siblings that live and migrate in groups.

So, after the spectacular portrayal of PLOS ONE, the scientists plan to perform some biological and functional mechanics analyzes to better understand their lives and why. become such a strange and different creature.