native cat

plural native cats

1. AustraliaThe quoll; any member of the genus Dasyurus of carnivorous marsupials.

   1907, New South Wales Department of Agriculture, The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, Volume 17, page 154, We have found the greatest enemies to be rats, native cats, hawks and crows.

   3 more examples

   The Native Cat, or Tjilpa, is not a real cat but a small marsupial (Dasyurus geoffreyi) with outsize whiskers and a banded tail held vertically above its back.

   1987, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, Vintage, published 1998, page 290

   The mesonephros of the native cat is a functional excretory organ at birth which begins to degenerate on day 15 and is completely repressed by day 30 post partum. In this regard, the native cat does not differ markedly from other marsupials,[…].

   1992, Acta Anatomica, volumes 143-144, page 341

   Widjingara, the native cat or quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), made the spring by shaking his shoulders and flinging water from his fur.

   2010, Robert Layton, Australian Rock Art: A New Synthesis, page 43