My home of Australia holds the record number of venomous spiders and snakes in the world, and if it weren’t for its extinction, we may also have had ‘King of the Jungle’ to add to our list of fauna titles.
According to Australian scientist Stephen Wroe, from the University of New South Whales, the now extinct marsupial lion, or Thylacoleo carnifex, pound for pound would have been more dangerous than the living big cats of the African plains.
Recently published in the Journal of Zoology, Wroe describes that Thylacoleo killed prey rapidly, using its teeth – described as “bolt-cutter” like – to scissor through hide and flesh. This in comparison to the way that the Lion kills, using a “clamp and hold” technique to suffocate their prey, sometimes over a period of 15 minutes.
“My results suggest that the marsupial lion employed a unique killing technique,” says research author Stephen Wroe. “It used its massive carnassial cheekteeth to effect major trauma and a rapid kill. Unlike any living mammalian carnivores, the marsupial’s carnassials were not only butchery tools but also active components in the killing process.”
Wroe was able to reach these conclusions after using a new type of computer modeling. The finite element (FE) analysis provides 3D models, based upon CT scans taken of an animal’s cranial mechanics, and their musculoskeletal architecture. From this, Wroe has revealed that the creature’s skull, jaw and head and neck muscles were better adapted to the killing of prey than the modern day lions.
“The marsupial lion also had an extremely efficient bite,” Wroe says. “In addition to very powerful jaw muscles for its size, its muscle and skull architecture were arranged in such a way as to take greater advantage of leverage than in living cats.”
Wroe is an expert in the arena of an animal’s bite force, having done similar studies on sharks and sabre tooth tigers. Thus, it is with his expertise behind him – as well as a bit of Aussie pride no doubt – that allowed him to conclude that the Thylacoleo carnifex would have outclassed the lion in a fight to the death.
“Certainly, T carnifex was seriously over-engineered for dispatching small prey. These new findings support the conclusion that the creature regularly preyed on relatively large species and was able to effect quick kills and withstand large forces generated by large struggling prey.
“Hypothetically, had a large marsupial lion ever come face to face with an African lion of similar size, it could have use its deadly cheek teeth and incredibly powerful arms to inflict mortal wounds on the mammal,” Wroe says. “Had it not become extinct, it might now hold top spot over toady’s ‘king of the jungle.’”
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
