Dawn mist blankets the rain forest in northeastern Australia, 15 million years ago. A bandicoot family emerges to dip snouts warily into a shallow freshwater pool. Their ears swivel, ever alert to a sudden crack or rustle in the undergrowth: drinking is always a dangerous activity. Suddenly, a dark, muscular form explodes from behind a bush, colliding with a young bandicoot in one bound. The shaggy phantom impales its victim on long, daggerlike teeth, carrying the carcass to a quiet nook to be dismembered and eaten at leisure. In nature, many animals will meet a violent death. So the sad end of one small bandicoot seems hardly worth mention. The demise of this little fellow would, however, have surprised most modern onlookers. Its killer was a kangaroo — the Powerful-Toothed Giant Rat-kangaroo (Ekaltadeta ima), to be exact.

The special “Dinosaurs and other Monsters” edition of Scientific American rocks the house. This article on “Killer Kangaroos and other Murderous Marsupials”, written by Stephen Wroe, depicts for your delectation such ferocious, antiquated predators of Down Under as the Largest Marsupial Wolf and the Largest Marsupial Lion.

Other articles investigate T. rex, giant predator birds, rulers of the Jurassic Seas, and cretaceous cockroaches. None of the content appears to be available online, but you can purchase the mag for download here.

And yes, Mr. Wroe, I would be a bit surprised if a Powerful-Toothed Giant Rat-kangaroo came rushing from the bushes. Yes, I would.