naracoorte caves national park

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Home : Naracoorte Caves National Park : Wonambi Fossil Centre : The Animals : Diet : Carnivores

Carnivores

Carnivores|Insectivores|Browsing Herbivores|Grazing Herbivores|Omnivores and Others

Carnivores

Carnivorous animals feed on the flesh of other animals.

They can be active predators, meaning they hunt and kill their prey, or they may be scavengers and feed on carrion (dead animals).

Meat-eaters found within the Naracoorte fossil deposits include owls, snakes and goannas, and mammals such as the the Tasmanian Tiger Thylacinus cynacephalus Native Cat or Quoll Dasyurus, the scavenging Tasmanian Devil Sarcophilus harrisii and the extinct Marsupial Lion Thylacoleo carnifex.

The Native Cat, or Quoll		Skeleton of the Quoll Click on picture to enlarge (44Kb)

Certain features of meat-eating animals provide clues about how they hunt and eat. For example, owls have huge claws and powerful beaks for catching and devouring prey.

The owl has a sharp beak for devouring prey		The owl's sharp talons allow it to swoop and grasp its prey

Skull of the Quoll, showing typical carnivore's teeth

Mammalian carnivores have four different kinds of teeth, each with a specific purpose:

• incisors for nipping and biting
• sharp canine teeth for stabbing and holding prey
• premolar teeth for cutting and slicing
• molar teeth for shearing flesh and crushing bone

In some animals these features are especially well developed, as in the Tasmanian Devil which has a powerful jaw musculature and molar teeth that can crush bone. The tooth marks from Tasmanian Devils have been found on fossil bones.

The Marsupial Lion took these adaptations even further with the development of an enormous flesh-slicing premolar tooth, and grasping hands with huge claws for catching and holding prey.

The Tasmanian Devil is a scavenger and has molar teeth that can crush bone		Jaw bone of the Marsupial Lion with its unusual stabbing lower incisor and large flesh-slicing premolar