Diprotodon Tooth Tusk Replica

Description

Diprotodon Tooth Tusk Replica measures 5.25 inches. Diprotodon Tooth Tusk Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Diprotodon optatum is the scientific name.

Diprotodon optatum is a giant relative of the Wombat from the Pleistocene of Australia. Diprotodon is the largest known marsupial ever to have lived. Along with many other members of a group of unusual species collectively called the “Australian megafauna”, it existed from approximately 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago (through most of the Pleistocene epoch).

Diprotodon optatum, meaning in Greek “two forward teeth”, is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. Along with many other members of a group of species collectively known as the “Australian megafauna”, it existed from about 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago (through most of the Pleistocene epoch).

Diprotodon optatum species fossils have been found in sites across mainland Australia, including complete skulls and skeletons, hair, and foot impressions. Female skeletons have been found with babies located where the mother’s pouch would have been.

Diprotodon optatum superficially resembled a rhinoceros without a horn. Its feet turned inwards like a wombat’s, giving it a pigeon-toed appearance.

It had strong claws on the front feet and its pouch opening faced backwards. Its footprints have been found showing a covering of hair, which indicates it had a coat similar to a modern wombat.

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Clade: Dinosauria
• Order: †Ornithischia
• Suborder: †Ornithopoda
• Clade: †Hadrosauromorpha
• Family: †Hadrosauridae
• Type species: †Hadrosaurus foulkii
• Conservation Status: Extinct