While hyenas, Tasmanian devils, and vultures are all known to scavenge meat and bone remains, unexpected observations show that these creatures are not the only ones. Brushtail possums were unexpectedly spotted feeding on dead kangaroo remains.
Scavenger's Role in the Ecosystem
The findings of this unexpected sighting were published in the Wildlife Research journal.
Science Alert reports that there are no vertebrate animals in Australia that only survive by scavenging. For this wildlife, carcasses are sometimes considered food.
Scavengers have a vital role when it comes to cleaning up the ecosystem and taking away carcasses from the landscape. Considering this, the researchers wanted to assess how various seasons affect the carcass use of vertebrate scavengers in Kosciuszko National Park in the Australian Alps.
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Unexpected Scavenger: Possums
During winter, the Australian Alps are covered with thick layers of snow. However, when summer starts, the surface becomes incredibly warm and hot, enough to facilitate strong bushfires.
The researchers discovered that scavenging was quite a seasonal activity when it came to visiting carcasses. Surprisingly, ravens and brushtail possums went along with such trends. Possums reportedly scavenged during the winter while ravens did so during the spring.
According to the Australian Geographic, such findings stressed the importance of scavengers. It also revealed a deeper understanding of the brushtail possum's feeding habits. The creature was generally thought to be a consumer of insects and plants.
The researchers anticipated spotting various scavenger animals in each season. Hence, they monitored the area for a whole year, starting in March 2020 up to March 2021.
For each season, they stationed 15 fresh kangaroo carcasses across the alps. All carcasses were monitored by a faraway camera for 60 days in order to track the species that checked them out.
Researchers were able to capture 745,599 snaps. Among the documented species were feral cats, spotted-tail quolls, dingoes, wedge-tailed eagles, ravens, ped currawongs, feral pigs, red foxes, and brushtail possums.
Brushtail possums and ravens accounted for 88% of the documented scavenging.
Scavenging Trends Through the Seasons
The researchers suspected that the carcasses' smell impacted the time it took for scavengers to find such remains. They assumed that, over the summer, the heat would make the scent stronger and, therefore, make the carcass easier to spot.
However, their assumptions were proven wrong when they realized that it took the creatures more time to spot the carcasses over the summer. Visits to the carcasses peaked during the winter.
The authors had a potential explanation for such a phenomenon. They suggested that, during the summer, there are several scavenging insects that colonize the creature just a few minutes into its death. Such scavengers have sped up the process of decomposition so much that vertebrate scavengers were left with minimal time to spot fresh carcasses.
Moreover, rates of scavenging could have been low during the summer due to the availability and abundance of other sources of food. Brushtail possums, for example, mostly feed on flowers, leaves, insects, and fruits. These are seasonally abundant during the summer season.
However, during the winter, these sources are scarce. Given this, it may be the reason why 81% of the documented scavenging was done by brushtail possums.
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