Reconstruction of Hadronomas puckridgei by P. Murray

Hadronomas puckridgei was a big marsupial that looked like a kangaroo. It is probably an ancestor of the short-faced kangaroo, and stood about 2 metres tall.

Hadronomas weighed about 60 kilos and had very big feet. It also had small eyes facing outward that gave it a wide field of vision.

Hadronomas was a browser and ate leaves and grasses that it chewed with its little nibbling teeth. Hadronomas fossils are very common at Alcoota. They lived together with herds of large marsupials and large birds but with very few predators.

The Hadronomas lived at Alcoota in the Miocene period about 8 million years ago. There was a lake or stream at Alcoota during that time although it was probably a very unreliable water source.

Australia had been separated for millions of years from the other continents by the Miocene period and its unpredictable climate had led to the evolution of highly adaptable animals such as the Hadronomas.

Hadronomas puckridgei skull, Museum of Central Australia	Reconstruction ofHadronomas puckridgei head, by P. Murray