Aussie marsupials eat spiders to protect own food source: researchers

SYDNEY, May 2 (Xinhua) -- An Aussie desert marsupial could be eating wolf spiders to save prey for itself, in what seems to be the first such recorded case of a species eating its food competitor, according to latest research released Wednesday.

The lesser hairy-footed dunnart, a carnivorous mouse-like marsupial found in many parts of Australia, competes with the wolf spider for prey such as insects but also consumes the spiders "disproportionately often relative to their availability," wrote University of Sydney researchers in a Royal Society Open Science journal article released on Wednesday.

The latest study points to an unprecedented competition and predation occurring between species "as disparate as marsupials and spiders," said the researchers, who tracked the two species over three months in the western Simpson Desert region of Queensland state.

The findings represent "a new and unique insight into the intricacies of complex desert ecological interactions" and offers a unique example of predatory behavior between such different species, the Royal Society scientific institution said in a media release on Wednesday.

Marsupials are mammals that carry their young in pouches and include iconic Australian animals such as the kangaroo and koala. Enditem