Eastern Quoll ~ very cute little marsupials
Eastern Quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus) are very cute little marsupials native to Australia. Once found in south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania, they were declared extinct on mainland Australia in 1967. Their extinction was due to feral predators, such as foxes, cats, and dogs. Now, they are only found in Tasmania, as Tasmania is fox-free, which has ensured their survival.
A few captive breeding programs have reintroduced small populations of eastern quolls back into mainland Australia in Booderee National Park (BNP), Jervis Bay, in 2018 and 2019. Additionally, there have been signs of their survival with the relocations. This area in BNP is a large fenced area to protect the eastern quolls from feral foxes, cats and dogs. Only time will tell how successful these relocations of captive breeding will be in the long term.
Characteristics
Quolls are small solitary marsupials about the size of a cat. They have a pointed pink nose, black eyes and a bushy tail with no spots, but sometimes their tail may have a white tip. Only their body is covered with white spots. Their soft fur, which can be fawn, brown, or black, is dotted with distinctive white spots.
Males are around 55 – 66 cm long; their bushy tails can measure up to 28cm long. They weigh about 850g – 2kg.
Females are slightly smaller and weigh around 600g – 1kg.
Lifespan in the wild is 3-5 years; in captivity is around six years.
Habitat
They live in various habitats, including alpine regions, rainforests, forests, and scrubland. However, they mostly prefer to live in dry, grassy areas. Being predatory animals, they play a very valuable role in the wild. They eat mainly insects, reptiles, rabbits, and rodents. This helps to keep the pest rodents under control.
Eastern quolls play an essential role in their ecosystem. They are efficient scavengers, cleaning the forest floor from carrion (dead animals), rats and mice. They also eat insects, reptiles, and fruit. Due to being nocturnal, they do most of their hunting at night. During the day, they live in their burrows and nests inside logs and under trees. Eastern Quolls are very agile and skilled tree climbers who can move quickly.
Reproduction
Breeding occurs once a year in early winter. Females can give birth to up to 30 pups in one litter, the size of a grain of rice. Unfortunately, female pouches only have 6 – 8 teats, limiting the pups’ survival rate. As a result, most of the pups will not survive. Gestation is between 20 – 24 days. Pups open their eyes after 75 – 80 days. After ten weeks, the pups leave their mother’s pouch and venture onto the forest floor to forage and hunt. They are fully weaned and become independent once they are 20 weeks of age. By the time they are one year old, they are sexually mature and will begin breeding. Unfortunately, only 20 – 58% of juveniles will survive their first breeding season, hampering conservation efforts.
Conservation status
Endangered and protected species with numbers decreasing (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
The main threat for quolls is habitat loss (deforestation), illegal hunting, the introduction of feral cats and dogs, foxes, Tasmanian devils, masked owls, roadkill, hunting, trapping and poisoning.
Eastern Quolls, the very cute marsupials, are just one of six species of quolls, four of which live in Australia and two in Papua New Guinea.
Check out my Tasmanian Devil post
Resources
https://www.aussieark.org.au/eastern-quoll/
https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/species/eastern-quoll#gs.9qb423
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