Page 29 - World of Animals - Deadly Predators

Dangerous predators Down Under

Quoll

Once they start killing, they just can’t stop

Quolls are murderous marsupials. They have eyes bigger than their bellies
and can fly into killing frenzies, taking out entire flocks of chickens but
only eating one bird. These ruthless animals might be smaller than their Dingo
Tasmanian devil cousins, but what they lack in size they make up for in
grit. They normally hunt alone, killing with a bite to the head or neck. But, Without a doubt the
if a devil turns up and there’s competition at a carcass, they won’t think deadliest predators
twice about fighting for their fair share.
in Australia
Dingoes run rings around Australia’s
TIGER QUOLL
Dasyurus maculatus other carnivores. These wild dogs
Lifespan 2-4 years aren’t marsupials, they’re placental
Adult weight 1.6-3.5kg mammals descended from Asian
(3.5-7.7lbs)
Conservation status grey wolves. They’ve been in
Australia for thousands of years,
and in that time, they’ve conquered
NEAR THREATENED the whole continent. While devils,
quolls and thylacines hunt alone,
these opportunists work in teams
to tackle larger prey. With strength
in numbers, they can take on
wombats, kangaroos, wallabies and
even cows, coming from all angles
to disorientate big animals and
knock them down.

DINGO
Canis lupus dingo
Lifespan 10 years
Adult weight 10-19kg
(21-43lbs)
© Getty Conservation status

© Getty VULNERABLE

© Wiki/Karora

Australia’s extinct

mega-carnivores The skeleton of
a marsupial lion
posed aggressively
in the fossil caves at
Naracoorte Caves
National Park
1 million years ago,
Australia’s predators were

even deadlier

Journey back 1 million years and you’d
encounter predators even deadlier than
the ones you find today. Australia was
once home to the metre-long (3.2-foot)
marsupial lion, with a mouth full of razor
teeth and a bite force stronger than any
living mammal; the two-metre- (6.4-foot-)
tall ‘demon duck’, Bullockornis, with a
skull-shattering beak, and the supersized
Komodo dragon, Megalania, a five-metre- © Getty
(16.4-foot-) long venomous lizard.