Riversleigh Fossil Centre -Mt Isa

Riversleigh World Heritage site, which Sir David Attenborough described as a treasure house of palaeontology, attracts palaeontologists from the world over. The fossil deposits are one of Australia's richest and most important fossil field discoveries. Twenty-five million years ago, the area was a lush rainforest teaming with life and included the ancient ancestors of our koalas and kangaroo together with other flauna and fauna specimens.
Mt Isa's Riversleigh Fossil Center provides easy way to get a better understanding of the sorts of animals whose fossils have been discovered at Riversleigh 250 kms away, via its state of the art facility and interactive displays.
Pictures:
* The importance of fossils.
* Short faced kangaroo ( Sthenurinae ) approximately 12 million years ago.
* The Madtsolidae snake was a giant predator, similar in size to a South American Anaconda.
* Palorchestes was a large marsupial that probably used it's huge claws and trunk like snout to feed on leaves and twigs of the trees.
* Ancient koalas, Nimiokoala, had longer snouts and were about a third of the size of today's koala - they weighed only 3-4 kgs. Picture depicting the two different skull sizes.
* Marsupial lions were present in Australia at least 24 million years ago.Read more