Does anyone know what the ancestors of koala's are.....?

Question

if you could please give me some websites that tell me who the ancestors of koala's are and about their evolution i would be throuroughly greatful thanks...

Answer 1

I saw something about that topic at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History when I was there in the summer.

The koala family, Phascolarctidae, are believed to have diverged from their nearest marsupial relatives, the wombats, around 24 million years ago (mya). At least six different members of the koala family evolved. The earliest fossil record of a koala was a browser, Perikoala palankarinnica, some 15 mya. More recently, a giant koala, Phascolarctos stirtoni, was a third as large again as our present day koala, but is believed to have died out along with other marsupial megafauna some 40,000 years ago, at around the time that aboriginal hunter-gatherers colonized Australia. Only one species, Phascolarctos cinereus, survives today. Phascolarctos is from the Greek words for "leather pouch" and "bear," while cinereus means "ash-colored."

This site will help.

Answer 2

Koala Ancestors

Answer 3

Check out this page for the evolutionary speculation:

http://animals.about.com/cs/mammals/a/aa061901a.htm

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Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 4

here is alink or web--site, http: /www.fourthcrossing wildlife.com