While some of the lemurs of Madagascar were surprisingly sloth-like, another lineage of these primates evolved in a different direction entirely.
Megaladapis was built similarly to a koala, with a rather squat body and hands and feet adapted for clinging onto branches. Three different species have been identified, with the largest measuring around 1.5m long (4′11″).
Its skull resembled that of a cow, with eyes on the sides of its head, a long snout, and powerful chewing jaw muscles for processing its diet of tough leaves. It also had a very unusual nose for a primate, with nasal bones similar to rhinos – suggesting it may have had an enlarged prehensile upper lip used for grasping foliage.
Much like some of the sloth lemurs, carbon dating of subfossil remains indicates that these “koala lemurs” may have survived until surprisingly recently – possibly only going extinct about 500-600 years ago.
