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 know this might appear to be a rediculous question, but it seems a little odd that a creature with compound eyes on the sides of it's head would have to turn its face directly towards an object to see it. I know this is an action that's generally associated with predators, in order to focus on pray, but the eyes of a mantis have neither the structure nor position of say, those of a wolf or a cat. And I never see other insects doing this, predators or otherwise.

Also, exactly why is it that a praying mantis' eyes darken when deprived of light, when again this is not something (at least as far as I have seen, and believe me, I spent the better part of my life catching and observing insects) that appears to be common in insects.