Meet Australia’s first long-distance walker: a 250kg marsupial with ‘heeled hands’

A reassembled partial skeleton of the specimen discovered in 2017 in South Australia, now named Ambulator keanei. Photograph: Flinders University

Scientists have identified one of Australia’s first long-distance walkers: a 250kg marsupial with “heeled hands” that roamed across the continent’s arid interior 3.5 million years ago.

Using 3D scanning, Flinders University palaeontologists have described a new group of ancient marsupial, calling it Ambulator – meaning walker or wanderer – for its specific leg and feet adaptations that equipped it to efficiently roam long distances.