Sudden situation. The Tasmanian devil drags another predator to the bottom

Australia and Tasmania were once inhabited by many large predatory marsupials. The Tessinian lion, for example, was at the forefront, that is Thylacoleo – A large carnivorous animal the size of a tiger. The last large carnivorous marsupial to be wiped out in modern times was the Tasmanian wolf, also known as the thylacine. It was a marsupial that looked like a cross between a wolf, a sable, and a tiger. It died at the Hobart Zoo in 1936, and the species was declared extinct in the wild in 1986.

What remains is the Tasmanian Devil, which once lived in the shadow of the wolf and perhaps fed on the remains of its feasts. It is now the island's main predator, although it was once viewed as a scavenger. However, the Tasmanian devil is not alone – it belongs to the terrapin family, which includes more carnivorous marsupials. Most members of this group hunt small prey, for example, smaller marsupials, rodents, invertebrates, and frogs. This is done, for example, by the desert coy, the spectacled squirrel monkey, the common rat monkey and others. The largest predator in this group is a very distinctive spotted animal called the spotted hawk And its relatives, such as the great eagle, the eucalyptus vulture, and others.

The spotted marten is sometimes called the Tasmanian marten. He acts the same way with her. It can climb trees and hunt birds, frogs and invertebrates. It can also hunt small marsupials, wombats or small rabbits. It is not as famous and predatory as the Tasmanian devil, but it is also a nocturnal Tasmanian hunter. On many levels, it competes with the Tasmanian devil for food.

It seems that since the competing resident, the Tasmanian devil, is in trouble, the spotted squirrel will benefit. But this is not the issue. The results of research published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution” indicate this The decrease in the number of demons directly affects the demons, but not in the way we expect.