Fossil 'Find Of The Century' Uncovered In Australia

Scientists have made a huge discovery of 'megafauna' fossils in Australia that they are calling the 'find of the century'.

Megafauna are large prehistoric animals and the find includes remains of 69 types of extinct creatures, including a fearsome three-metre long 'marsupial lion'.

Marsupials are animals like kangaroos or koala bears that have pouches in their fur to carry their babies in.

The marsupial lion (or Thylacaleo Carnifex) would have lived between 200,000 and 800,000 years ago.

Here's a picture of what it might have looked like.

© Western Australian Museum

It's sharp teeth and claws would have been excellent for hunting and it was the largest predator (animal that hunts for its food) in Australia at the time.

Scientists had found parts of the marsupial lion before but this is the first time they have discovered a complete skeleton.

This is what it looked like when they found it.

© Clay Bryce, Western Australian Museum

Along with the lion they found a giant wombat and 23 types of kangaroo, eight of which were not known about before.

Some had small ridges on their heads like horns and others may have lived in trees.

All the fossils were found in caves in the Nullarbor Plain in south Australia.

Here's one of the scientists from the Western Australian Museum working there.

© Clay Bryce, Western Australian Museum

The prehistoric beasts had fallen to their deaths through gaps in the ground leading to the caves about 20 metres below them.

Most of the Australian megafauna died out about 40,000 years ago and the scientists are trying to work out why this happened.

It could have been early humans or fires that helped to wipe them out.

All that remains are their fossils - this is the marsupial lion put together properly in the Western Australia Museum.

© Clay Bryce, Western Australian Museum

Looks scary doesn't it? Can you imagine how it would have felt to bump into one of those on a dark night? If you fancy getting creative and writing us a story or sending in a pic of one of these huge creatures we've got some prizes to send out.. get busy!

Thanks to our friends at 'Nature' magazine for telling us about this great story. The magazine is one of the places where scientists first publish news about their discoveries.