News Animals

Cuddly koalas had a brutal, blade-toothed close cousin

Collagen preserved in bones of extinct mammals is giving the marsupial family tree an update

Illustration of a large prehistoric, lion-like marsupial reacting as a bird tugs on its tail.

Thylacoleo carnifex, depicted here being harassed by a cockatoo parrot, was a marsupial predator with bladed teeth, powerful jaws and tearing claws. But it was a close relation to today’s sleepy, herbivorous koalas.

Nellie Pease/CABAH/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Jake Buehler

This is a human-written story voiced by AI.