Giant echidnas weighing 15kg roamed Victoria – and the evidence was hiding in plain sight

A skull fragment found in a tray of unsorted fossils collected more than a century ago leads to discovery

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A prehistoric fossil, hiding in plain sight in museum storage for more than a century, has revealed that giant echidnas once roamed Victoria.

The Owen’s giant echidna, Megalibgwilia owenii, lived during the Pleistocene, a geological epoch that began 2.5m years ago. It grew to about 1 metre long and weighed up to 15kg – about twice the size of Australia’s modern echidnas.