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Meet the megafauna of Alcoota


Baru sp. was a giant crocodile as heavy as the largest modern day saltwater crocodiles, though not quite as long.
 
Alcoota Baru was a colossal crocodile, weighing up to 800 kg, and the biggest predator of the waterhole. They grew to the length of a large saltwater crocodile but were much more heavily built.

Baru is such a new species that it is yet to receive a scientific name

Baru sp.

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Dromornis stirtoni

A large male Dromornis may have weighed as much as 700 kg – the weight of an adult African buffalo! A hatchling Dromornis would take 15 years to reach adult size.

 

Dromornis were plant-eaters and would have fed on leaves, shoots and fruits from trees and tall shrubs. They swallowed stones to help grind up their food.

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They may have lived in dense shrubland and woodland called ‘dry jungle’.

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Wakaleo alcootaensis

Although called a marsupial lion, Wakaleo alcootaensis was the size of a leopard and a distant cousin of wombats.

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Thylacinus potens

Thylacinus potens from Alcoota was related to the famous, and sadly extinct, Tasmanian tiger. It may have reached the size of a large wolf.

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