Victoria's State Fossil Emblem
9 videos • 451 views • by Museums Victoria State emblems are a way of celebrating the unique and amazing natural heritage of our part of the world. It has been announced that Victoria's State Fossil Emblem will be Koolasuchus cleelandi. So what was Koolasuchus? Tim Ziegler tells us all about Victoria's new State Fossil Emblem. The car-sized amphibian Koolasuchus lived alongside dinosaurs in Victoria during the Cretaceous Period. In a head the size of a dustbin lid were dozens of ridged fangs for piercing prey, and two-inch tusks growing from the roof of its mouth. Resembling something between a huge newt and a crocodile, Koolasuchus was adapted to life in the rushing rivers that once separated Australia and Antarctica. Its fossils are only found at a few beaches and coves in south Gippsland. Koolasuchus was an unexpected discovery, as it is the long-lost member of its lineage, known as the temnospondyls. It lived in Victoria as much as 50 million years after all other temnospondyls went extinct worldwide. If you are curious about what the other candidates for the fossil emblem were, the rest of the playlist includes videos about all of the finalists. These eight videos showcase the eight nominated fossils have been hand selected by Museums Victoria’s palaeontologists and experts to represent our unique State. These fossils are some of Victoria's finest in Museums Victoria’s State Collection and they are vastly different to each other. Each fossil tells a unique story of how life evolved in Victoria, from the 400 million year old giant of the plant world (Baragwanathia) to a tiny five centimetre long mammal (Bishops whitmorei) that lived among Victoria's dinosaurs.