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Article: Marsupial was Captain Crunch.(Thylacoleo carnifex, the extinct marsupial lion with the strongest bite among mammals)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- November 4, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SYDNEY, Australia -- You'd freak, wouldn't you, if you came face-to-face with a lion or a tiger? But those modern-day cats are mere kitties compared with the extinct marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex). A new study has found that T. carnifex had the strongest bite of any known mammal.
"Thylacoleo carnifex was one of the meanest, most frightening animals you could have the misfortune to meet," Stephen Wroe, a biologist at the University of Sydney, told the BBC News.
The marsupial lion wasn't a true lion. It was a pouched mammal, like the koala and the kangaroo, but with catlike features. It preyed on other marsupials in its native Australia.
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