I live in Sydney, Australia. A few days ago I noticed a scene on the lawn at the back garden resembling Hollywood movies !

A possum was almost entirely devoured, except for the fur, stomach, intestines, and front half of jaws !

The kill was fresh, I noticed it early morning, no flies, and the intestines had not dried. The fur was detached from skin and left in a ring approx. 30-40 cm in diameter. The intestines and stomach were left at the middle of the ring, all positioned as they normally are inside body. The front part of jaws with teeth were within the ring. Nothing else like skin, limbs, bones, or any other organs I could find in the garden.

Several questions: What attacked the possum ? In Australia, I can not think of any predator capable of doing this. Why only fur, stomach. intestines, and part of jaws left ? A predator, this vicious is hard to imagine being so precise and choosy !

A predator this capable and precise . . . sounds more like some alien ?!

I have actually asked my kids to stay away from the garden when dark, until I find the predator.

I have noticed that our resident possums appear to understand basic instructions like "turn left" or "turn right" when we have directed them towards a sourse of food. While we have not domesticated these possums intentionally, they are fairly comfortable to eat near us, with two of the group willing to take large pieces of food from our hands, as long as we dont try to touch them in return.

However, I decided to try to "direct" a possum in a nearby suburb that was not at all used to any human contact and got the same results! There were several possible sources of food, but I have noticed that even a slight amount of light can considerably scramble their sences, including smell. I believe the possum would have eventually found the food source but it followed "direcion" instantaniously, as do the possums at work.

Have any studies been done to proove or disproove my therory?