SYDNEY, July 5 (UPI) -- Australian paleontologists say they've uncovered the first complete skeleton of a giant prehistoric marsupial described as being like a giant wombat.

In what they're calling a major find, researchers from the University of South Wales and other Australian universities have dug up the remains of a creature known as a diprotodon that lived some 50,000 to 2 million years ago.


The skeleton was found in northwest Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria region, PhysOrg.com reported Tuesday.

Researchers say they believe the discovery will help fill in missing details about not just the diprotodon but about early Aboriginal culture, as the two are thought to have co-existed.

The diprotodon is believed to be the largest marsupial -- an animal that carries its young in a pouch -- ever to have walked the Earth, weighing in at some 3 tons and growing up to 14 feet long.

Researchers said early human hunters would have found the creature a challenge, especially if it was anything like a modern wombat, which has sharp rodent-like teeth and has been known to bite, charge and bowl over anyone confronting it.