Australia's Vanished Beasts
Diprotodontid
Diprotodon optatum
This was the first fossil mammal from Australia given a name (in
1838). Meaning "two forward teeth,"
Diprotodon featured two incisors that jutted straight out
from its upper jaw, giving it a buck-toothed look. It may have
sported a trunk as well, though experts will never be sure unless
they turn up a mummified carcass (like the dessicated remains of
giant ground sloths found in caves in the Americas) or perhaps
unequivocal rock drawings by ancient Aborigines, who are known to
have lived alongside diprotodontids for at least 10,000 years. From
its teeth, experts have determined that the plant-eating
Diprotodon was a browser. Here, a mother watches helplessly
as its infant bogs down in mud on the edge of a drying lake.