A killer that likes to rip the head off its prey,
a devil that pursues its victim until it collapses with exhaustion,
then tears it to pieces.
These are Australia's carnivorous marsupials.
They come in different shapes and sizes and they all love to bite.
Here is the story of 4 of Australia's predators with pouches.
There are 136 species of carnivorous marsupial living in the Americas,
New Guinea and here in Australia,
which is home to almost half of these species.
In Australia, they live in every habitat
from wet forests to dry ones and out to the islands,
One species is found in only two locations in Australia's extreme southwest:
the dibbler.
It's only the size of a mouse,
most carnivorous marsupials are nocturnal,
but the dibbler hunts at dawn and dusk.
It was believed to have become extinct
until it was rediscovered in the 1960s after a gap of 80 years.
While the dibbler is rare,
the dunnart can be found in habitats all over Australia.
Researchers spotted 18 species across the continent.
Among them, the grey-bellied dunnart.
Ouch, it bites!
It weighs as much as an AA battery,
but its teeth can grind mice and frogs into fine pieces.
Oh, great, a little female.
Like many carnivorous marsupials,
the dunnart's pouch consists of just a few folds of skin
to protect its babies as they suckle.
Several species are threatened by habitat loss
and predators like cats and foxes,
but here, isolated on the Jurien islands in the west of Australia,
this little grey-bellied dunnart is safe from most threats.
Many carnivorous marsupial species
used to be found all over Australia,
like the quoll, which is now restricted to a few areas.
Quolls stalk their prey in the dead of night.
Adults are lone hunters capable of taking down animals
even larger than themselves.
But in early forays, juvenile quolls will gather together
to compete for much smaller prey, like moths.
Male quolls have a naturally short lifespan.
Depending on the species, it's between two and five years.
But this northern quoll is particularly short lived.
He will die after his first sexual encounter.
Scientists call this self-destructive behavior
“semelparity” or "Big Bang reproduction”:
The males mate with as many females as possible
and then die from exhaustion.
Researchers are monitoring the quolls' fluctuating populations
in Australia's far north.
Yep, it's a boy.
northern quolls have the dubious distinction of being the largest mammal
that has this annual die off.
Anywhere between two thirds and 100%
of the males die after breeding.
So at the age of just over 12 months,
and the females live a bit longer to raise the litter,
but most of them also die.
They’ve got one chance for a successful breeding
which makes their population really vulnerable.
If the young all die across a population,
the population is extinct in one year.
There’s not many mammals that are living on that knife edge of survival.
Semelparity, combined with habitat loss and the introduction of exotic animals
like the cane toad,
have driven the northern quoll to the brink of extinction in many places.
But for now, this North Queensland population is safe.
It could be that they've learned how to avoid eating the poisonous cane toad.
The quoll’s sister species, the Tasmanian devil,
is found across Tasmania in all habitats.
It is also endangered thanks to another sort of problem.
The devil’s population has declined by more than 60% percent since the 1990s,
due to a fatal cancer that can be transmitted by biting.
Devils have the most powerful bite force
relative to body size in the entire animal kingdom.
And it's an unfortunate coincidence that Tasmanian devils love biting.
It's even an integral part of their mating ritual.
Luckily, new generations are developing immunity to the cancer,
and some populations seem to be increasing.
There are 61 species of carnivorous marsupial in Australia,
but so little is known about their secret lives.
Only through continued research
can scientists ensure the future of these cute little killers.
Thanks for watching.
If you want to learn more about the numbat,
another Australian marsupial, check out our video.
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