Museums Victoria Palaeontologist Tim Ziegler Uncovers Giant Echidna Secret Hidden for a Century

A remarkable fossil discovery has confirmed that giant echidnas once roamed Victoria during the Ice Age, reshaping understanding of Australia’s prehistoric wildlife. The specimen, a partial skull unearthed in 1907 from a cave near Buchan in East Gippsland, had sat unrecognised in the Museums Victoria collection for decades before being identified as belonging to the extinct species Megalibgwilia owenii. The finding provides the first direct evidence of the species in the region, extending …