Friday 11 April 2014

Tiny Killer: Mini 'Tasmanian Tiger' Took Down Large Prey

Charles Q Choi, LiveScience Contributor | April 09, 2014 05:00pm ET

An extinct marsupial hunter only the size of a fox may have hunted prey larger than itself, researchers say.

This predatory ability makes the ancient creature different from its most recent living relative, the also-extinct thylacine, or "Tasmanian tiger." The last known wild thylacine was shot in 1930, and the last captive member of the species died in a zoo in 1936.

Hunting apparently helped drive the species to extinction. People targeted the dog-like Tasmanian tigers because they believed that the animals killed sheep; in fact, a 2011 study published in the Journal of Zoology found that the creatures' jaws were too weak to take down large prey, and that they would have only killed animals smaller than themselves.


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