naracoorte caves national park

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• Living Animals
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• Diet
• Habitat
• Reasons for Extinction
• The Fossils in the Naracoorte Caves
• Reconstructing Animals from Fossils
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Naracoorte Caves National Park

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

Insectivores

The amazing abundance and diversity of the insects is mirrored by the large number of animals that use them for food. 

Many of the species found at Naracoorte survived on a diet composed mainly of insects and other invertebrates.

Interestingly, the majority of insectivores that lived at Naracoorte thousands of years ago are still to be found in the area today.

These animals include frogs and tortoises, lizards, birds, small marsupials, rodents and bats.

Bats are highly adapted insect eaters and catch nocturnal, flying insects using echolocation for hunting.

Other insectivores make use of a range of insects and other invertebrates.

Insectivorous mammals have sharp teeth for piercing and crushing the exoskeleton of insects.

Fossilised bones of the Magpie-lark, which feeds on insects, have been found at Naracoorte		Sharp teeth on the fossil jaw bones of insectivorous marsupials Antechinus and Sminthopsis

Some insectivores are highly specialised such as the ant-eating Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus which has a long snout and tongue for collecting ants and termites.

The Echidna eating ants		Skeleton of the Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus Click on picture to expand (74Kb)

In the woodlands of ancient Naracoorte, the Giant Long-beaked Echidna Megalibgwilia ramsayi foraged for grubs and worms.

The long snout is made up of a hollow tube, through which the tongue extended to grasp the prey.

The extinct Giant Long-beaked Echidna used its long nose to forage for grubs and worms