Research has shown over 10 per cent of Australia's native mammals have become extinct since European settlement, and feral cats continue to take a massive toll.

The ongoing study examined the history of Australian mammals, and found the past 200 years have been particularly deadly.

With one or two Australian mammals wiped from the Earth every decade, our extinction rate is higher than any other continent.

The new report places 133 mammals in the “extinct or threatened” category, but just 115 are listed in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Professor John Woinarski from Charles Darwin University was a co-author of the latest update to The Action Plan for Australian Mammals, and said that feral cats and foxes were the primary cause of the decline.

“People like cats, I understand that, they’re nice animals but in the wild they’re a ferocious predator, extremely hungry, extremely able and I think the Australian native mammals simply can’t cope,” he told The Australian.

He says that if just a tenth of the $6 billion Australians spend on their pets each year was diverted to the conservation effort, many species could be saved from extinction.

“Rather than your dogs or your cats or your guinea pigs or your chooks, actually be concerned about quokkas and rat kangaroos and bandicoots as well,” he said.

The CSIRO estimates there are about 15 million feral cats around the country, and each would kill about five Australian mammals, birds or reptiles each night.

That means feral cats could be responsible for 75 million animal deaths per night.