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What did Thylacoleo eat?

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Widely considered an Australian apex predator, Thylacoleo
(Fig 1) is phylogenetically surrounded by smaller apatemyids, phalangers and wombats. Some of these are herbivores, some are insectivores and some are omnivores.

Some are bark strippers in order to get at sap or burrowing insects.Figure 1. Thylacoleo compared to several smaller relatives in the LRT. Note the fusion of teeth from Wakaleo to Thylacoleo. Note the tiny former canine is now a small premolar, following the pattern of related Akynodonta.

” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Thylacoleo compared to several smaller relatives in the LRT. Note the fusion of teeth from Wakaleo to Thylacoleo. Note the tiny former canine is now a small premolar, following the pattern of related Akynodonta.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg?w=75″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg?w=257″ class=”size-full wp-image-94970″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Thylacoleo compared to several smaller relatives in the LRT. Note the fusion of teeth from Wakaleo to Thylacoleo. Note the tiny former canine is now a small premolar, following the pattern of related Akynodonta. ” width=”584″ height=”2326″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg?w=584&h=2326 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg?w=38&h=150 38w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg?w=75&h=300 75w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dactylopsila.labidolemur588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 1. Thylacoleo compared to several smaller relatives in the LRT. Note the fusion of teeth from Wakaleo to Thylacoleo. Note the tiny former canine is now a small premolar, following the pattern of related Akynodonta.Among extant animals, six sometimes or often eat bark.
These include deer, beavers, capybaras, rabbits, porcupines and water voles.

The outer layer of bark
consists mainly of layers of crushed, dead cells with a high lignin = woody content. By contrast, the inner layer of bark is comprised of living cells packed with the complex carbohydrates, sugars, and minerals bark-eating animals can digest.

Traditionally and according to Wikipedia – Thylacoleo:
“The marsupial lion is classified in the order Diprotodontia along with many other well-known marsupials such as kangaroos, possums, and the koala.”

“The ancestors of thylacoleonids are believed to have been herbivores, something unusual for carnivores.”

“Thylacoleo is thought to be terrestrial with some climbing capabilities.”

“The skull was so specialized for big game that it was very inefficient at catching smaller animals, which possibly contributed to its extinction.”

“Thylacoleo had highly mobile and powerful forelimbs used to grapple prey, with each manus having a single very large retractable hooked claw set on large semi-opposable thumbs, which are suggested to have been used deal a killing blow.”

“Its strong forelimbs and retracting claws mean that Thylacoleo possibly climbed trees and perhaps carried carcasses to keep the kill for itself. “

“When Thylacoleo was first described by Richard Owen, he considered it to be a carnivore, based on the morphology of its skull and teeth.[2] However other anatomists, such as William Henry Flower disagreed. Flower was the first to place Thylacoleo with the Diprotodonts, noting its skull and teeth to be laid out more like those of the koala and the wombat, and suggested that it was more likely a herbivore. Owen did not disagree with Flower’s placement of Thylacoleo with the Diprotodonts, but still maintained that it was a carnivore, despite its herbivorous ancestry. Owen found little support in his lifetime, despite the pointing out of Thylacoleo’s retractable claws, something only found in mammalian carnivores,[4] and its lack of any ability to chew plant material.”

Horton and Wright 1991
argued that cuts on fossil bones were made by Thylacoleo, not humans.

The closest relatives of the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo
(Fig 1), in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2338 taxa) are extinct arboreal Apatemyidae. Wakaleo (Fig 1) is a sister taxon. The Wikipedia article on Thylacoleo mentioned no apatemyids.

In the LRT apatemyds are sisters
to the clade Diprodontia with living taxa like the koala (Phascolarctos) and the larger, more derived terrestrial wombat (Vombatus).

Outgroup taxa
include the arboreal sugar glider, Petaurus, and the Australian possum, Dactylopsia (Fig 2).

Figure 1. The extant striped opossum Dactylopsila in vivo. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. The extant striped opossum Dactylopsila in vivo.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg?w=279″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-87375″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. The extant striped opossum Dactylopsila in vivo.” width=”584″ height=”628″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg?w=584&h=628 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg?w=140&h=150 140w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg?w=279&h=300 279w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dactylopsila_trivirgata588invivo.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 2. The extant striped opossum Dactylopsila in vivo.

Not quite as related, but with a similar skull
is an extant multituberculate, the aye-aye, Daubentonia (Fig 3).

According to Wikipedia – Aye-aye:
“gnaws holes in the wood using its forward-slanting incisors” to get at burrowing insects.”

According to Wikipedia – Apatemyidae:
“The skull was fairly massive compared to the otherwise slender skeleton, and the front teeth were long and hooked, resembling those of the modern aye-aye, both whom make their living by gnawing off bark with their front teeth to get at grubs and maggots beneath.”

According to Wikipediasugar glider:
“To obtain sap or gum from plants, sugar gliders will strip the bark off trees or open bore holes with their teeth to access stored liquid. They are opportunistic feeders and can be carnivorous, preying mostly on lizards and small birds. They eat many other foods when available, such as nectar, acacia seeds, bird eggs, pollen, fungi and native fruits.”

Figure 2. Daubentonia, the aye-aye is a living Sinobaatar. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 2. Daubentonia, the aye-aye is a living Sinobaatar.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg?w=192″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-91787″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Daubentonia, the aye-aye is a living Sinobaatar.” width=”584″ height=”913″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg?w=584&h=913 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg?w=96&h=150 96w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg?w=192&h=300 192w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daubentonia-skull588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 2. Daubentonia, the aye-aye is a living Sinobaatar.

The great size of Thylacoleo
might preclude a habit of bark-stripping to get at sap or burrowing insects. Or maybe Thylacoleo had a beaver-like, porcupine-like diet of tree bark. Note the fusion of the posterior teeth from Wakaleo to Thylacoleo to creat sissors-like cutters of great power, perhaps for bark.

References
Evans AR, Wells RT and Camens AB 2018.New skeletal material sheds light on the palaeobiology of the Pleistocene marsupial carnivore, Thylacoleo carnifex. PLOS ONE. 13 (12) e0208020.
Horton DR and Wright RVS 1981.
Cuts on Lancefield Bones: Carnivorous Thylacoleo, Not Humans, the Cause. Archaeology in Oceania. 16 (2): 73–80.

a-z-animals.com/blog/discover-animals-that-eat-tree-bark/

Publicity
(with taxon exclusion problems) about the basal apatemyid, Labidolemur:
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/new-understanding-of-bizarre-extinct-mammal/


Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/what-did-thylacoleo-eat/


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