Australia’s largest living carnivorous mammal is the Tasmanian devil, which is a carnivorous marsupial found mainly in Tasmania. In the fossil record, the largest known carnivorous mammal from Australia is the extinct marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex.
Largest living carnivorous mammal
The Tasmanian devil is the biggest extant carnivorous marsupial, reaching about 60–80 cm in body length and weighing up to around 8–14 kg in the wild. It once lived on mainland Australia but now survives naturally only in Tasmania, where it feeds on carrion and small to medium-sized animals.
Largest carnivorous mammal ever
Thylacoleo carnifex, often called the marsupial lion, is regarded as the largest carnivorous mammal known from Australia’s fossil record. Estimates suggest it weighed well over 100 kg and likely preyed on other megafauna such as giant herbivores during the Pleistocene.
