#megaladapis

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Another Saturday another formation stream!

This time we visited the subfossil wonders of Madagascar!

[si-nequal-is]

Megaladapis guards its territory on top of tree trunk. Homage to iconic Empire state building scene of original King kong.

[alphynix]

Island Weirdness #20 -- Megaladapis

While some of the lemurs of Madagascar were surprisingly sloth-like, another lineage of these primates evolved in a different direction entirely.

Megaladapis was built similarly to a koala, with a rather squat body and hands and feet adapted for clinging onto branches. Three different species have been identified, with the largest measuring around 1.5m long (4′11″).

Its skull resembled that of a cow, with eyes on the sides of its head, a long snout, and powerful chewing jaw muscles for processing its diet of tough leaves. It also had a very unusual nose for a primate, with nasal bones similar to rhinos -- suggesting it may have had an enlarged prehensile upper lip used for grasping foliage.

Much like some of the sloth lemurs, carbon dating of subfossil remains indicates that these “koala lemurs” may have survived until surprisingly recently -- possibly only going extinct about 500-600 years ago.

[horrible-lizards]

Megaladapis, 1910, by F. John

[themesozoicsperm]

A bunch of photos I took of this rad exhibit of a Paraceratherium with other awesome “mammals”. This was some years ago at the Natural History Museum of New York.

The creatures are:

A big Paracetherium’s skull (referred as Indricotherium), a Gomphotherium, a narwhal (Monodon), a horse (Equus), a Toxodon, a deer (Blastocerus), a giant lemur (Megaladapis), a saber-toothed cat (Smilodon), a ground sloth (Glossotherium), a giant wombat (Phascolonus), and Edaphosaurus, a “proto-mammal”.

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Aquí un montón de fotos que tomé a está increíble exhibición de un Paraceratherium con otros asombrosos “mamíferos”. Esto fue hace algunos años en el Museo de Historia Natural de Nueva York.

Las criaturas son:

Un gran cráneo de un Paracetherium (referido como Indricotherium), un Gomphotherium, un narval (Monodon), un caballo (Equus), un Toxodon,un venado (Blastocerus), un lémur gigante (Megaladapis), un tigre dientes de sable (Smilodon), un perezoso terrestre (Glossotherium), un wombat gigante (Phascolonus), y Edaphosaurus, un “proto-mamífero”.

[vickysaurus]

Megaladapis, a giant lemur!

[quaggasculpture]

Extint giant sloth lemur. Megaladapis sp. Life-size reconstruction -Masola Rainforest Greenhouse at Zürich Zoo #Zürich #zoo #zürichzoo #masola #masolarainforest #rainforest #megaladapis #giantlemur #estintlemur

[extinction-illustrated]

Megaladapis edwardsi

Extinct Late Middle Ages