Biological Conservation 232 (2019) 187–193
Biological Conservation 232 (2019) 187–193 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon A palaeontological perspective on the proposal to reintroduce Tasmanian devils to mainland Australia to suppress invasive predators T ⁎ Michael C. Westawaya, , Gilbert Priceb, Tony Miscamblec, Jane McDonaldb, Jonathon Crambb, ⁎ Jeremy Ringmad, Rainer Grüna, Darryl Jonesa, Mark Collarde, a Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, N13 Environment 2 Building, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia b School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia c School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia d College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, 2500 Campus Road, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822, USA e Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The diversity of Australia's mammalian fauna has decreased markedly since European colonisation. Species in Australia the small-to-medium body size range have been particularly badly affected. Feral cats and foxes have played a Invasive predator central role in this decline and consequently strategies for reducing their numbers are being evaluated. One such Fossil record strategy is the reintroduction to the mainland of the Tasmanian devil, Sarcophilus harrisii. Here, we provide a Feral cat palaeontological perspective on this proposal. We begin by collating published records of devil remains in Fox Quaternary deposits. These data show that the range of devils once spanned all the main ecological zones in Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus Australia.
[Show full text]