Australian scientists have found the skeleton of a "giant wombat" which lived some two million years ago.
The plant-eating marsupial was as big as a four-wheel drive vehicle and would have weighed three tonnes, the scientists estimate.
The bones were found at Floraville Station in northern Queensland – a region that has attracted scientists and fossil hunters for decades.
The discovery is one of Australia's most significant pre-historic discoveries because the skeleton is complete – the first time a complete skeleton of a Diprotodon optatum has been uncovered.
Prof Mike Archer, a professor of biological science at the University of New South Wales, told the BBC: "We found the most gigantic marsupial ever known."
"These were very huge animals but with pouches. If one tried to visualise what this thing looked like, you'd have to sort of think of a gigantic wombat on steroids."
Researchers believe the area could contain a huge graveyard of mega-fauna that once roamed the Australian continent.
