Life reconstruction of the marsupial lion © Peter Schouten
Prof. Mumblebard says: “The marsupial lion is the Australian counterpart of sabre-toothed cats but, because of its diprotodont ancestry on an isolated continent, it used incisors instead of canines to stab prey.”
Robin and the Honey Badger say: “The so-called marsupial lion differed so much from the large felids of other continents that comparisons with them are misleading. Felids have canines capable of stabbing prey. The marsupial lion by contrast lacked any stabbing teeth. Even its projecting incisors were blunt and not separated between left and right sides of the jaws. Like all carnivorous mammals, its carnassial teeth were capable of shearing flesh. But its carnassials were quite different from those of felids, being proportionately far larger. Based on these observations of its dentition, the marsupial lion was unique among carnivorous animals and cannot be shoehorned into the niche of a large felid. Its real role deserves objective investigation based on the environmental, as opposed to biotic, peculiarities of Australia.”