A prehistoric monster amphibian that looked like a crocodile and was the size of a car has joined the likes of the Leadbeater’s possum, the helmeted honeyeater and gold as an official emblem of Victoria.
The four-metre Koolasuchus cleelandi had dozens of ridged fangs for piercing prey and two-inch tusks growing from the roof of its mouth – and following a public vote the predator is now Victoria’s State Fossil Emblem.
Creative Industries Minister Danny Pearson said 11500 Victorians voted in Museums Victoria’s poll to select the fossil emblem with Koolasuchus cleelandi beating other fossils unique to the state including a 25-million-year-old whale and one of the first plants to live outside water that dates back 400 million years.
Koolasuchus cleelandi, first discovered in 1978 near San Remo on Bunurong Country, is on permanent display at Melbourne Museum.
