Which modern animal is Thylacoleo evolutionarily closer to than the true lion, Panthera leo?
Answer
The modern wombat
Despite the intimidating common name suggesting a close relationship to lions (*Panthera leo*), *Thylacoleo* was evolutionarily much more distant from them than popularly assumed. Because it was a marsupial belonging to the order Diprotodontia, its lineage diverged from placental mammals millions of years ago. Its actual evolutionary cousin among extant animals, based on shared deep ancestry within the marsupial group, is the wombat, despite the wombat being a predominantly herbivorous/omnivorous species.
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