25 January, 2011 1:22PM AEDT

A sabre-toothed bandicoot fossil called 'Scrat'

Researchers have found the fossilised remains of a sabre-toothed bandicoot-like species which lived in Queensland's ancient rainforests about 19 million years ago. The well-preserved skull and partial skeleton was unearthed in the Riversleigh World Heritage site about 250 kilometres north-west of Mount Isa.

  • Print Print page
  • Email Email this
  • Permalink Permalink
  • Share
Download this mp3 file

Professor Michael Archer from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said the animal had giant canines, a long nose and it probably had a well-developed sense of smell.

The research team have nick-named the fossil 'the Scrat' after the character in the 'Ice Age' movies which was like a sabre-toothed rodent.

"I can't think of a more apt way of describing it and it may very well have behaved like the scrat.

"A feisty little nasty character that was probably one of the flesh-eaters who you actually had to worry about in those Riversleigh rainforests.

"It had very powerful chewing muscles that are more like the kind of flesh-eating marsupials today, than any conventional bandicoot.

"So this was occupying a very unique niche in those ancient rainforests about 19 million years ago," he explained.

The professor's team at UNSW are looking forward to studying this fossil in more detail because every aspect is going to provide an enormous amount of new information about Australia's very unique animals.

"It's just another part of the extraordinary unfolding story of Riversleigh and it will continue to happen every year.

"We will understand more about what it is that is unique about Australia and how it got that way.

"And ideally learning from that, how we're going to manage to keep it healthy into the future despite climate change and all the challenges we now face," said Professor Archer.