What is the worlds' largest carnivorous marsupial?
"Gondwana, 50 million years ago. The island of Tasmania was home to the thylacine, a marsupial which resembled a fossa or some say a wild dog. Known colloquially as the Tasmanian tiger for the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct in mainland Australia much earlier because of competition by the dingo, introduced in prehistoric times. Owing to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The Tasmanian devil became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in"
"and starring Willem Dafoe. Thylacine The thylacine ( , or , also ; ""Thylacinus cynocephalus"") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger (because of its striped lower back) or the Tasmanian wolf (because of its canid-like appearance, traits and attributes). Native to continental Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, it is believed to have become extinct in the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae; specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record dating back to the late Oligocene. Surviving"
"Thylacine The thylacine ( , or , also ; ""Thylacinus cynocephalus"") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger (because of its striped lower back) or the Tasmanian wolf (because of its canid-like appearance, traits and attributes). Native to continental Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, it is believed to have become extinct in the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae; specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record dating back to the late Oligocene. Surviving evidence suggests that it"
"in 1936. The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian devil; it is the size of a small dog and can hunt, although it is mainly a scavenger. It became extinct on the mainland some 600 years ago, and is now found only in Tasmania. There are four species of quoll, or ""native cat"", all of which are threatened species. The Eastern quoll for example is believed to have been extinct on the mainland since the 1960s, though conservation efforts are under way to reintroduce the secretive species to the mainland. The remainder of the Dasyuridae are referred to"
"Marsupial lion The marsupial lion (""Thylacoleo carnifex"") is an extinct species of carnivorous marsupial mammal that lived in Australia from the early to the late Pleistocene (1,600,000–46,000 years ago). Despite its name, it is not closely related to the lion, but is a member of the order Diprotodontia, one of the taxonomic groups of Australian marsupials. The marsupial lion is the largest meat-eating mammal known to have ever existed in Australia, and one of the largest marsupial carnivores from anywhere in the world (although see ""Thylacosmilus"" and ""Borhyaena""). Individuals ranged up to around high at the shoulder and about from"
"younger fossils to be reworked into older sediments. The question remains the subject of ongoing research. Marsupial lion The marsupial lion (""Thylacoleo carnifex"") is an extinct species of carnivorous marsupial mammal that lived in Australia from the early to the late Pleistocene (1,600,000–46,000 years ago). Despite its name, it is not closely related to the lion, but is a member of the order Diprotodontia, one of the taxonomic groups of Australian marsupials. The marsupial lion is the largest meat-eating mammal known to have ever existed in Australia, and one of the largest marsupial carnivores from anywhere in the world (although"
"overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The thylacine was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. The thylacine was one of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes (the other is the water opossum). The male thylacine had a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, protecting the male's external reproductive organs while running through thick brush. The last known animal died in captivity in 1936. Many alleged sightings have since been recorded, none of them confirmed. The mature thylacine ranged from long, plus a tail of around . The largest measured"
"Carnivora Carnivora (; from Latin ""carō"" (stem ""carn-"") ""flesh"" and ""vorāre"" ""to devour"") is a diverse scrotiferan order that includes over 280 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, whereas the word ""carnivore"" (often popularly applied to members of this group) can refer to any meat-eating organism. Carnivorans are the most diverse in size of any mammalian order, ranging from the least weasel (""Mustela nivalis""), at as little as and , to the polar bear (""Ursus maritimus""), which can weigh up to , to the southern elephant seal (""Mirounga leonina""), whose adult males weigh up"
"with a tubular snout in the place of a mouth, and a tongue that can move in and out of the snout about 100 times a minute to capture termites. Australia has the world's largest and most diverse range of marsupials. Marsupials are characterised by the presence of a pouch in which they rear their young. The carnivorous marsupials—order Dasyuromorphia—are represented by two surviving families: the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the Myrmecobiidae with the numbat as its sole surviving member. The Tasmanian tiger was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae died in captivity"
"Diprotodon Diprotodon, meaning ""two forward teeth"", is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. Along with many other members of a group of species collectively known as the ""Australian megafauna"", it existed from approximately 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago (through most of the Pleistocene epoch). ""Diprotodon"" species fossils have been found in sites across mainland Australia, including complete skulls and skeletons, as well as hair and foot impressions. Female skeletons have been found with babies located where the mother's pouch would have been. The largest specimens were hippopotamus-sized: about from nose to tail, standing"
"Western quoll The western quoll (""Dasyurus geoffroii"") is Western Australia's largest endemic mammalian carnivore. One of the many marsupial mammals native to Australia, it is also known as the chuditch. The species is currently classed as near-threatened. The western quoll is a member of the family Dasyuridae and is most closely related to the bronze quoll (""Dasyurus spartacus""), a recently described species from New Guinea that was for some time believed to be an outlying population of the western quoll. Its species name, ""geoffroii"", refers to the prominent French naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who named the genus ""Dasyurus"" in 1796."
"in 1982, multiple establishments in Japan that raise capybaras have adopted the practice of having them relax in onsen during the winter. Capybara The capybara (""Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris"") is a mammal native to South America. It is the largest living rodent in the world. Also called chigüire, chigüiro (in Venezuela) and carpincho, it is a member of the genus ""Hydrochoerus"", of which the only other extant member is the lesser capybara (""Hydrochoerus isthmius""). Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the coypu. The capybara inhabits savannas and"
"Capybara The capybara (""Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris"") is a mammal native to South America. It is the largest living rodent in the world. Also called chigüire, chigüiro (in Venezuela) and carpincho, it is a member of the genus ""Hydrochoerus"", of which the only other extant member is the lesser capybara (""Hydrochoerus isthmius""). Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the coypu. The capybara inhabits savannas and dense forests and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large"
"teeth remains as they were used for hunting and consuming prey in a prehistoric Australia teeming with other megafauna. The specialisation found in the dental history of the marsupial indicates its status in the predatory hierarchy in which it existed. According to fossil records, ""T. carnifex"" is the largest known marsupial carnivore from the Australian Pleistocene. Using data collected from the most complete skeleton record available, researchers have been able to estimate the weight of the specimen to have been between 112–143 kg. In examining other specimens, it is estimated that the largest individual from the available sample weighed over"
"Wolverine The wolverine () (also spelled wolverene), ""Gulo gulo"" (""Gulo"" is Latin for ""glutton""), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids. A solitary animal, it has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself. The wolverine is found primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern"
"a sclerophyll forest developed about a thousand years later. Earlier increases in sclerophyll vegetation during shifts to cooler, drier conditions about 120,000 and 75,000 years ago did not have any obvious impact on megafaunal abundance. Diprotodon Diprotodon, meaning ""two forward teeth"", is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. Along with many other members of a group of species collectively known as the ""Australian megafauna"", it existed from approximately 1.6 million years ago until extinction some 46,000 years ago (through most of the Pleistocene epoch). ""Diprotodon"" species fossils have been found in sites across mainland Australia, including complete skulls"
"one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth. Among animals, the largest species are all marine mammals, specifically whales. The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived. The largest land animal classification is also dominated by mammals, with the African bush elephant being the most massive of these. The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the giant sequoia (""Sequoiadendron giganteum""), native to Sierra Nevada and California; it typically grows to a height of and in diameter. Multiple-stem trees such as banyan can be enormous. Thimmamma Marrimanu in India spreads"
"namadicus"" may have been the largest land mammal ever, based on extensive research of fragmentary leg bone fossils from one individual, with a maximum estimated size of 22 tonnes. The Permian era ""Cotylorhynchus"", from what is now the southern United States, probably was the largest of all synapsids (most of which became extinct 250 million years ago), at and 2 tonnes. The largest carnivorous synapsid was ""Anteosaurus"" from what is now South Africa during Middle Permian era. ""Anteosaurus"" was long, and weighed about . The largest living reptile, a representative of the order Crocodilia, is the saltwater crocodile (""Crocodylus porosus"")"
"Dreadnoughtus Dreadnoughtus is a genus of giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur containing a single species, Dreadnoughtus schrani. ""D. schrani"" is known from two partial skeletons discovered in Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian; 84–66 Ma) rocks of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is one of the largest of all known terrestrial vertebrates, possessing the greatest mass of any land animal that can be calculated with reasonable certainty. ""D. schrani"" is known from a more complete skeleton than any other gigantic titanosaurian. Drexel University Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, who discovered the species, chose the name “Dreadnoughtus,” which means “fears nothing,"" stating"
"Bluntnose sixgill shark The bluntnose sixgill shark (""Hexanchus griseus""), often simply called the cow shark, is the largest hexanchoid shark, growing to in length. It is found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide and its diet is widely varied by region. The first scientific description of the bluntnose sixgill shark was authored in 1788 by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre. As a member of the Hexanchidae family, it has more close relatives in the fossil record than living relatives. The related living species include the dogfish, the Greenland shark, and other six- and sevengilled sharks. Some of the shark's relatives date back"
"Red kangaroo The red kangaroo (""Macropus rufus"") is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests. This species is a very large kangaroo with long, pointed ears and a squared-off muzzle. They are sexually dimorphic as the males have short, red-brown fur, fading to pale buff below and on the limbs. Females are smaller than males and are blue-grey with a brown tinge, pale grey below, although arid zone"
"two koala species co-existed during the Pleistocene, occupying the same arboreal niche. The reason for the extinction of the larger of the two about 50,000 years ago is unknown, although there are various hypotheses for the extinction. The giant koala is an arboreal marsupial weighing about twice as much as a koala, about 30 kg. It is known as the largest tree dwelling marsupial that has ever lived. Scientists say that there is a clear similarity in the physical appearance from the modern koala. It is assumed that the diet of the giant koala is eucalyptus leaves, and that the"
"Zanzibar leopard The Zanzibar leopard (""Panthera pardus pardus"" syn. ""Panthera pardus adersi"") is a leopard population on Unguja Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, Tanzania. It is the island's largest terrestrial carnivore and apex predator. In 2008, it was considered extinct due to persecution by local hunters. Increasing conflict between people and leopards in the 20th century led to the demonization of the Zanzibar leopard and determined attempts to exterminate it. Efforts to develop a leopard conservation program in the mid-1990s were shelved when wildlife researchers concluded that there was little prospect for the population's long-term survival. In 2018, a leopard"
"diminishing returns apply. Cetaceans are not the only marine mammals to reach unprecedented size in the modern era. The largest carnivoran of all time is the mostly aquatic modern southern elephant seal. Because of the small initial size of all mammals following the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, nonmammalian vertebrates had a roughly ten-million-year-long window of opportunity (during the Paleocene) for evolution of gigantism without much competition. During this interval, apex predator niches were often occupied by reptiles, such as terrestrial crocodilians (e.g. ""Pristichampsus""), large snakes (e.g. ""Titanoboa"") or varanid lizards, or by flightless birds (e.g. ""Paleopsilopterus"" in South America)."
"carrier for arthritis remedies given as topical salves. Opossum pelts have long been part of the fur trade. Classification based on Voss and Jansa (2009) Opossum The opossum () is a marsupial of the order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 103 or more species in 19 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of the two continents. Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet, and reproductive habits make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions. The"
"scale, typically between about 15 or 20 grams and about 2 kilograms, or from the size of a domestic mouse to that of a small domestic cat. To provide context, the table below also shows the other major branches of the Australasian marsupial tree. Dasyuromorphia The order Dasyuromorphia (meaning ""hairy tail"") comprises most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the marsupial moles (which eat meat but are very different and are now accorded an order of their own, Notoryctemorphia)."
"related to each other (forming a clade, recognized as the family Eupleridae), carnivorans are now thought to have colonized the island once, around 18 to 20 million years ago. The fossa is the largest mammalian carnivore on the island of Madagascar and has been compared to a small cougar. Adults have a head-body length of and weigh between , with the males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws (meaning it can extend but not retract its claws fully) and flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first, and also support jumping from tree to"
"of 5.33 different types per location. In contrast, in the west, Cape Sorell yielded three types, and Togari North-Christmas Hills yielded six, but the other seven sites all had at least eight MHC types, and West Pencil Pine had 15 types. There was an average of 10.11 MHC types per site in the west. Recent research has suggested that the wild population of devils are rapidly evolving a resistance to DFTD. The Tasmanian devil is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial. It has a squat, thick build, with a large head and a tail which is about half its body length."
"Fin whale The fin whale (""Balaenoptera physalus""), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a marine mammal belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-largest species on Earth after the blue whale. The largest reportedly grow to long with a maximum confirmed length of , a maximum recorded weight of nearly , and a maximum estimated weight of around . American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale ""the greyhound of the sea ... for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht"
"Giant barb The giant barb or Siamese giant carp, ""Catlocarpio siamensis"" (, , , or , , ; , ; Vietnamese: ""cá Hô""), is the largest species of cyprinid in the world. These migratory fish are found only in the Mae Klong, Mekong, and Chao Phraya River basins in Indochina. Populations have declined drastically due to habitat loss and overfishing, and the giant barb is now considered critically endangered. Giant barbs are usually seen in large pools along the edges of large rivers, but seasonally enter smaller canals, floodplains, and flooded forests. Young barbs are usually found in smaller tributaries"
"quilombensis. The species name refers to the Brazilian quilombo settlements. ""Oxalaia quilombensis"" is the eighth officially named theropod species from Brazil and the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered there. It is closely related to the African genus ""Spinosaurus"". Although ""Oxalaia"" is known only from two partial skull bones, Kellner and colleagues found that its teeth and had a few distinct features not seen in other spinosaurids or theropods, including two replacement teeth in each socket and a very sculptured secondary palate. ""Oxalaia"" habitat was tropical, heavily forested, and surrounded by an arid landscape. This environment had a large variety of lifeforms"
"size of the largest mammalian carnivores, let alone that of the largest mammalian herbivores. It has been suggested that the increasing thickness of avian eggshells in proportion to egg mass with increasing egg size places an upper limit on the size of birds. The largest species of ""Dromornis"", ""D. stirtoni"", may have gone extinct after it attained the maximum avian body mass and was then outcompeted by marsupial diprotodonts that evolved to sizes several times larger. Giant tortoises were very important components of late Cenozoic faunas, occurring in virtually every continent until the arrival of homininans. The largest known terrestrial"
"Opossum The opossum () is a marsupial of the order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 103 or more species in 19 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of the two continents. Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet, and reproductive habits make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions. The animal is also known as a possum, particularly in North America. The word ""opossum"" is borrowed from the Powhatan language and was first recorded between"