The living world is one big family. Since Darwin, this has been a given: Any two species are always more or less cousins. It's all just a question of separation. Our common ancestor with jellyfish, for example, lived around 800 million years ago. On the other hand, the separation between cows and whales "only" took place 55 million years ago. History doesn't say who first decided to colloquially call the six species of the Dasyurus genus "marsupial cats." Perhaps they didn't have in mind how far back their common ancestor dates: around 130 million years. Or maybe he just didn't care: Appearance was all that mattered (and even that's debatable). As always, the Anglo-Saxons were more rigorous: They named the animal "quoll," a name often used by French-speaking researchers, with others opting for "dasyure."

The fact remains that these fake cats are real marsupials. This is not just because they only exist in Australia, home of the kangaroo, except for two species in New Guinea. Above all, it is because female quolls give birth to larvae, measuring just a few millimeters long, that crawl right up to their teats, the hallmark of marsupials. First come, first and only served: Of the 30 or so young, only six or eight, depending on the number of nipples available, will be able to develop, not in a pouch but in a fold of the skin. They stay there for two months before becoming independent.

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