Reconstruction of Palorchestes painei by P. Murray

Palorchestes painei is also known as a marsupial tapir. It was about 2 metres long and stood 1 metre high.

The closest living relatives of Palorchestes are wombats and koalas although it looked a lot like the modern day tapir and had a long narrow skull.

Palorchestes was a herbivore. It had a small trunk, a long tongue and strong arms with big claws. It may have used these to tear bark from trees or to pull up small plants to eat. It may have even used its long tongue to find food inside trees or holes.

There were forests as well as grasslands and a small permanent water supply at Alcoota when the Palorchestes lived in the Miocene period about 8 million years ago.

Scientists aren't sure why animals like Palorchestes painei died out but they there may have been a sudden and very severe drought at Alcoota. This would have caused the plants to die and the animals like Palorchestes who ate plants would have starved to death.

Palorchestes painei skull, Museum of Central Australia	Top view of the narrowPalorchestes painei skull, Museum of Central Australia	Reconstruction of the head of Palorchestes painei by P. Murray