What significant difference in morphology makes the survival of Thylacoleo less plausible than reports of the Thylacine?
Answer
Thylacoleo was more powerful, heavier, and possessed a radically different hunting style
There is a substantial difference in scale and ecological visibility between the Thylacine (*Thylacinus cynocephalus*) and *Thylacoleo*. The marsupial lion was a far more robust, heavier, and specialized ambush predator with a unique structural design. The Thylacine, being canid-like, may have had a lower threshold for being overlooked if small populations survived briefly. However, for the massive, powerful, and structurally bizarre *Thylacoleo* to evade all modern documentation for 46 millennia requires a population size and habitat that seem ecologically unsustainable and impossible to hide.
#Videos
Could Marsupial Lions Survive Nowadays? - YouTube
Related Questions
To what order does Thylacoleo carnifex belong, making it a cousin to kangaroos?What specialized dental feature defined the predatory weaponry of the marsupial lion?Based on its heavy build, what predatory tactic was Thylacoleo likely optimized for?Approximately how long ago is fossil evidence cited for the extinction of Thylacoleo carnifex?What two major environmental and demographic factors are implicated in the demise of the marsupial lion?Which comparison provides a better mental model for the physical structure of Thylacoleo carnifex than a sleek feline?What significant difference in morphology makes the survival of Thylacoleo less plausible than reports of the Thylacine?What significant outcome resulted from the disappearance of the marsupial lion from the food web?What is the primary challenge cited regarding obtaining a complete genome for Thylacoleo de-extinction from fossils?Relative to its size, what characteristic of the Thylacoleo bite is described as astonishingly powerful?Why would a surviving Thylacoleo population almost certainly have been documented in modern times?