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

Palaeontologists have used an ice age fossil found 120 years ago in an underground cave to reveal extinct giant echidnas roamed Victoria. Illustration: Chris Edser/Museums Victoria

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.