The rise and fall of large marsupial carnivores

Australia currently has few large mammalian carnivores, and the largest and most widespread of these are recently arrived placental species. However, the carnivorous marsupials of Australia have a glorious past. Specialised carnivory evolved in four marsupial families, and over the last 30 million years marsupial carnivores became steadily more specialised, larger and (probably) more diverse in species. They included some powerful, large predators, comparable to the most specialised predators among placental mammals on other continents. The fall of marsupial carnivores began with the extinction of the largest species around 45 000 years ago, when all large vertebrates disappeared. The cause of this extinction has been much debated, but most recent evidence suggests that hurnan hunting was responsible. More recently, the thylacine and devil disappeared from mainland Australia, and the thylacine ultimately went extinct from Tasmania as well. The causes of these extinctions are also controversial.