Secret Lives of Carnivorous Marsupials by Andrew Baker;Chris Dickman;

Author:Andrew Baker;Chris Dickman;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781486305162
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

9

DIETS AND EATING HABITS

Early observers of carnivorous marsupials were often struck by their ferocity and the savage ease with which they made their kills. In 1866, for example, Gerard Krefft commented that the Yellow-footed Antechinus (Antechinus flavipes) would kill any number of mice if placed in a box with them. Thirty years later, Richard Lyddeker noted that ‘Like their allies, they [Fat-tailed Dunnarts, Sminthopsis crassicaudata] are inveterate enemies to Mice, which they fall upon at once with great ferocity, killing more than they can possibly devour.’ Mice fare poorly in many accounts. New Guinean dasyures (Murexia spp.), mulgaras (Dasycercus spp.) and the Kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei) have been reported to dispatch mice with swift bites to the head and neck. Zoologist Oliver Pearson reported that captive Patagonian Opossums (Lestodelphys halli) killed mice at ‘lightning speed, eating everything – bones, teeth, and fur’. Larger carnivorous marsupials have long been reputed to tackle bigger prey. The Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), for example, was known not just as a killer of poultry, but – in the words of zoologist Frederick Wood Jones – to be a ‘… determined slayer of chickens, and one which killed not merely to appease its appetite’. The largest of the extant carnivorous marsupials, the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), had the worst reputation for ferocity. Writing in the mid-19th century, famed naturalist John Gould regarded the Devil to be ‘untameable and savage in the extreme, [it] is not only destructive to the smaller kangaroos and other native quadrupeds, but assails the sheep-folds and hen-roosts whenever an opportunity occurs for its entering upon its destructive errand.’ These and other accounts of carnivorous marsupials as vampires and blood-thirsty killers have given the group a fearsome reputation. But is this view justified? Here we examine the diets of carnivorous marsupials and describe the range of prey that they hunt. We review the strategies these carnivores use to detect their prey and the weapons they employ to subdue and process them. With carnivorous marsupials stalking landscapes throughout the Americas and Australasia, we finally consider the broader effects of these miniature killers on other species that share their habitats.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.