Why doesn't Australia have an apex predator? #science #australia #evolution #pbseons

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[KimberlyGreen]

'Combat Wombat' needs to be on an Eons t-shirt

[Eyerleth]

And all I can think is...MORTAL WOMBAT!!!

[cazek]

These still exist. They're called "Drop bears" and hunt exclusively on tourists.

[magister]

Note that Carnifex can mean either butcher or executioner in Latin, and literally means "Meat-maker."

[Cardinalt]

They've actually got the dropbear, the most terrifying predator on earth of course.

[Mikew]

The most recent was the Tasmanian tiger, also known as the Thylacine. But they do have things like Dingoes (Similar to Coyotes) and on Tasmania they have the Devil’s.

[funniburnz]

You have Emu's. You don't need predatory mammals, lol They won a war against humans, lol

[allangibson]

Australia also had predatory lizards - the Komodo Dragon had a slightly bigger relative in Australia competing with the Tasmanian Tiger (large dog size) and Tasmanian Devil (medium dog size) predators along with the Marsupial Lion.
The 6kg/2.8 meter wingspan Wedge Tail Eagle is quite capable of taking out medium size prey too. The slightly larger 15kg / 3m wingspan Haast’s Eagle migrated to New Zealand from Australia too.

[squidapple]

As an Australian I always laugh when people say they’re afraid of snakes and spiders, you guys have BEARS that can rip you apart, that is absolutely terrifying

[SnipeMD]

"Australia has no big predatory mammals."

Humans:

[Droidzi]

why are we not talking about our apex bird predator: Cassowary
who needs killer mammals when our birds do the job

[Hugh_Jas]

Who needs an apex predator when every insect and reptile is lethal?

[chasesigler]

When you realize we are the predatory mammals lmao

[ComradeFuzzy]

It’s so interesting that the Aboriginal people lived for 10 000-20 000 years alongside these marsupial lions.

[Ubernewb]

"where are the big Australian predators?"

me: tf? crocs and big as poisonous snakes aren't big enough for you? what about dingos? they are just a hill Billy wolf

[BamitzSam]

I mean… Cassowaries exist and they’re probably the most angriest bird of all angry birds.

[Thor-Orion]

Combat Wombats IS WAY better than “marsupial lion.” I will now exclusively refer to these magnificent creatures as Combat Wombats!

[ashk]

I’m Aussie, and when I was doing my zoo archaeology course at university, one of the guest lecturers talked about our extinct megafauna. My favourite one was called the “Demon Duck of Doom” or Dromornis 😂 it was a gigantic bird, 2.5m (8’) and 250kgs, most closely related to modern ducks and geese.

[Cy]

"No wolf equivalent" Thylacine untill 100 years ago has left the chat. EDIT: this is now my most liked comment thx!

[phaines]

Australia apex predator... Salt water crocs?