Thylacoleo carnifex

marsupial ‘lion’

This was one of the first Thylacoleo trackways ever discovered and records an individual moving across a dune. Although the trackways in aeolianites often deteriorate quickly after initial exposure, one of the freshly-exposed impressions in this trackway preserves all five digits of the manus, including the large, semi-opposable thumb.

Skeletal element: Trackway
Specimen number: FU2801
Significance of specimen: Only Thylacoleo trackway with clear thumb impression
Geological age: Late Pleistocene, Bridgewater Formation
State/territory: Victoria
Locality/site: Thunder Point, Warrnambool