The giant wombat-like marsupial that lived in Australia until about 46,000 years ago was Diprotodon. It was the largest-known marsupial and belonged to the extinct family Diprotodontidae, which also included several other large Australian herbivores.
Diprotodon optatum could reach about 1.7 metres at the shoulder, more than 3 metres from head to tail, and may have weighed several tonnes. Its sturdy, elephant-like limbs supported long-distance travel, while its large incisors and grinding molars were adapted for eating leaves, twigs, buds, and other vegetation. Like living wombats and koalas, it was a marsupial.
Fossils show that Diprotodon lived across much of Australia. Remains from sites in Queensland and Western Australia have been dated to approximately 47,000–46,000 years ago, near the end of the Pleistocene. Its extinction formed part of Australia’s megafaunal collapse. Researchers continue to debate the relative roles of climate change, drought, human hunting, and landscape burning, and a combination of pressures may have been responsible.