Marsupial Cats That Thrived Evolutionarily Amid Climate Change

According to a joint study by researchers at the Australian National University and the University of Salford in the UK, an environmental shift involving a sharp drop in global temperatures about 10 million years ago contributed to the evolutionary success of Australia's carnivorous marsupials. This group includes more than 80 species of marsupial cats.

The researchers combined genomic data from living marsupial cats and other marsupials with the fossil record to examine how these animals evolved over time.

They found that when temperatures fell sharply about 10 million years ago, numerous marsupials became extinct, including the Tasmanian marsupial wolf, a competitor of marsupial cats. The marsupial cats that survived were then able to live safely without the risk of attacks from natural enemies.

Robin Beck of the University of Salford said the study, based on genomic and fossil data used to investigate marsupial cat evolution, found that three of the four major marsupial cat groups diversified simultaneously following the sharp temperature decline.

In other words, while most animal species became extinct after the climate changed dramatically, marsupial cats instead became more diverse.

Today, some marsupial cat species are found only in Tasmania, Australia, while others occur on the Australian mainland, the island of New Guinea and elsewhere. Although marsupial cats thrived evolutionarily during past climate change, they are now at risk of extinction.