STL Science Center

STL Science Center

20 August 2017

Mega Facts

Megalibgwilia is an unusual animal for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are detailed in the facts that are know about the animal and shared on various websites and fact pages. There are a number of sites we have used before and many that many among us may have never heard of before that host files, short essays, and illustrations of the two species of this genus. The first of these familiar sites which appears in a search is the Dinopedia. Despite this animal clearly being a monotreme, a type of non-placental mammal now represented by only extant echidnas and the Platypus, the Dinopedia entry is fairly comprehensive and discusses Megalibgwilia almost identically as sources like Wikipedia. This makes it neither more nor less useful than Wikipedia of course. Wikispecies entries for the animals are taxonomically useful, but again, this information can be found in Wikipedia as well. A slightly more detailed history of taxonomy is available on the Fossilworks site which also provides some locality details for known fossils as well. One of the most interesting new sites is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's site discussing the extinction of megafauna in Australia. While it does not specifically discuss Megalibgwilia exclusively, this site does discuss the environment it lived in and how it may have been subjected external and internal pressures leading to its extinction.

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