Although Albert's friends in this book have been drawn from Simon McLean's imagination, he was inspired by the Megafauna that roamed Australia until about 15,000 years ago. Among the Diprotodons, wombat-like animals, was Diprotodon optatum, the largest marsupial ever, as big as a hippopotamus. Thingodonta was a marsupial of the Yalkaparidontia group, and it got its name because it puzzled the scientists when its fossils were first discovered. Other prehistoric Australian animals were kangaroos that were probably flesh-eating, and the marsupial lion. Come with Albert, back in time to the Long Long Ago, and explore the ancient world of Albert's Thingodonta dreaming.
