Giant echidnas weighing 15kg roamed Victoria – and the evidence was hiding in plain sight
A skull fragment found in a tray of unsorted fossils collected more than a century ago leads to discovery
-
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A prehistoric fossil, hiding in plain sight in museum storage for more than a century, has revealed that giant echidnas once roamed Victoria.
The Owen’s giant echidna, Megalibgwilia owenii, lived during the Pleistocene, a geological epoch that began 2.5m years ago. It grew to about 1 metre long and weighed up to 15kg – about twice the size of Australia’s modern echidnas.