The
quoll, or
native cat, (genus
Dasyurus) is a carnivorous
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
native to mainland Australia,
New GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. It is primarily nocturnal and spends most of the day in its den. There are six species of quoll; four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Another two species are known from fossil remains in
PlioceneThe Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
and
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
deposits in Queensland. Genetic evidence indicates that the quoll evolved around 15 million years ago in the Miocene, and that the ancestors of the six species had all diverged by around 4 million years ago. The quoll species vary in weight and size, from 300 grams (10.6 oz) to 7 kilograms (15.4 lb). They have brown or black fur and pink noses. They are largely solitary, but come together for a few social interactions such as mating, which occurs during the winter season. A female gives birth to up to 18 pups, of which only 6 survive to suckle on her teats.
The quoll eats small mammals such as rabbits, small birds, lizards and insects. Its natural lifespan is between two and five years. All species have drastically declined in numbers since Australasia was colonised by Europeans, with one species — the Eastern quoll — becoming extinct on the Australian mainland and is now found only in Tasmania. Major threats to their survival include the
cane toadThe Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
, predators, urban development and poison baiting. Conservation efforts include breeding programs in captivity.
Taxonomy
The name
Dasyurus means "hairy-tail", and was coined by
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-HilaireÉtienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories...
in 1796.
In 1770,
Captain CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
collected quolls on his exploration of the east coast of Australia, adopting the Aboriginal name for the animals. Although the origin of Cook's specimens are unclear, the word and its variants
je-quoll,
jaquol or
taquol are derived from the
languageGuugu Yimithirr is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Guugu Yimithirr people of Far North Queensland. Most of the speakers today live at the community of Hopevale, about 46 km from Cooktown...
of the
Guugu Yimithirr peopleThe Guugu Yimithirr are an Australian Aboriginal tribe of Far North Queensland, many of whom today live at Hopevale , which is the administrative centre of Hopevale Shire. It is about 46 km from Cooktown by road. It is also the name of their language...
of far north Queensland. There is no evidence the local indigenous people used the word in the Sydney area. They were likened in appearance to a polecat or marten in the earliest reports, the tiger quoll being called "spotted marten" and eastern quoll "spotted opossum", but by 1804, the names "native cat" and "tiger cat" had been adopted by early settlers. In the 1960s, noted naturalist
David FleayDavid Howells Fleay was an Australian naturalist who pioneered the captive breeding of endangered species, and was the first person to breed the platypus in captivity....
pushed for the revival of the term "quoll" as he felt the then current vernacular names were misleading.
Four species have been recovered from Pleistocene cave deposits from
Mount Etna Caves National ParkMount Etna Caves is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 544 km northwest of Brisbane. The parks caves are the roosting site for more than 80 percent of Australia's breeding population of Little Bent-wing Bats. It is also one of the few places in Australia supporting a colony of the...
near Rockhampton in central Queensland. Remains of the tiger quoll and the northern quoll, and a species either identical or very similar to the eastern quoll, as well as a prehistoric species as yet undescribed, all lived in what was a rainforest climate. The northern quoll is still found in the region. The fossil species
D. dunmalli, described by Bartholomai in 1971, is the oldest species recovered to date. Its remains were found in
PlioceneThe Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
deposits near
ChinchillaChinchilla is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Chinchilla had a population of 3,681.The town was established in 1877...
in southeastern Queensland. Known only from a lower jaw and some teeth, it was a relative of the tiger quoll.
The first species described, the tiger quoll, was originally placed in the American opossum genus
DidelphisThe six species in the genus Didelphis, commonly known as large American opossums, are members of the Didelphimorphia order....
. The
tribeIn biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
Dasyurini- Classification :* Tribe Dasyurini** Genus Dasycercus*** Brush-tailed Mulgara, Dasycercus blythi*** Crest-tailed Mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda** Genus Dasykaluta*** Little Red Kaluta, Dasykaluta rosamondae** Genus Dasyuroides...
, to which quolls belong, also includes the
Tasmanian devilThe Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...
, the
antechinusAntechinus is a genus of dasyurid marsupial that is indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The majority of Antechinus species occur in Australia and only two species have been described in New Guinea...
, the
KowariThe Kowari , also known as the Brush-tailed Marsupial Rat, Kayer Rat, Byrne's Crest-tailed Marsupial Rat, Bushy-tailed Marsupial Rat and Kawiri, is a small carnivorous marsupial native to the dry grasslands and deserts of central Australia...
, and the
mulgaraMulgaras are the two species in the genus Dasycercus. They are marsupial carnivores, closely related to the Tasmanian Devil and the quolls, that live in deserts and spinifex bush of central Australia. They are 12.5–22 cm long with a 7–13 cm tail. They are nocturnal but occasionally...
. Genetic analysis of
cytochrome bCytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics and phylogenetics.- Function :...
DNA and 12S rRNA
of the mitochondria indicates the quolls evolved and diversified in the late
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
between 15 and 5 million years ago, a time of great diversification in marsupials. The ancestors of all current species had diverged by the early Pliocene, around 4 million years ago.
The genus
Dasyurus consists of six species of quoll:
- The bronze quoll (D. spartacus) is the only mammal that is found in the Trans Fly ecoregion
The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island...
but not in northern Australia. It is found in the southern part of New Guinea south of the Fly RiverThe Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
. Rising sea levels due to an increase in global temperature caused a land bridge that once connected Australia and New guinea to be covered up with water. A 2007 study conducted by the University of New South Wales suggests that the bronze quoll is closely related to the western quoll, their ancestors diverging with the separation of land masses.
- The western quoll or Chuditch (D. geoffroii) is restricted to the Jarrah Forest
Jarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.-Location and description:The ecoregion stands on the 300m high Yilgarn block inland plateau and includes wooded valleys such as those of Western Australia's Murray River and the Helena River near...
and the central and southern Australian Wheatbelt. It is believed that the western quoll once occupied 70 percent of Australia, but because of cane toads, predators, habitat destruction and poison baiting, it is now less abundant.
- The New Guinean quoll (D. albopunctatus) is found throughout most of New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. It tends to live at an elevation of about 1000 metres (3,280.8 ft), and is not found in the south-western lowlands, although it can found on Yapen Island.
- The eastern quoll (D. viverrinus) is now considered extinct on mainland Australia: the last sighting there was in the 1960s. But it does inhabit much of nearby Tasmania, where it can be found in rainforests, heathland, alpine areas, and scrubs. It can be found near farms as it eats pasture food. The eastern quoll can also be seen in the Mt. Field National Park.
- The tiger quoll or spotted quoll (D. maculatus), also known as spotted quoll, lives in south-eastern Australia. It tends to prefer rock dens more than dens made out of wood. In a study submitted by Belcher and Darrant in 2006, the habitats of tiger quoll were directly related to the amount of prey found in the area. Gullies and drainage ditches were used quite often by the quolls and ridges with rocky outcrops were used to make the rock dens that the animals enjoy.
- The northern quoll (D. hallucatus) could be found in the northern third of Australia a century ago. Presently, it resides in high rocky areas and areas with heavy rainfall. The northern quoll is abundant on the minor islands surrounding northern Australia. In 2003, northern quolls were translocated to Astell and Pobassoo Islands for conservation reasons. Genetic analysis indicates it is the earliest offshoot from the ancestors of other quolls.
Description
Adults are between 25 centimetre long, with hairy tails about 20 centimetre long. Females have six nipples and develop a pouch during the breeding season, which opens toward the tail (with the exception of the tiger quoll, which has a true pouch) when they are rearing young. Their coats are brown or black, with some colour variants in between. They have a bright pink nose and a long snout. Their natural lifespan is between two and five years; the larger species tend to live longer than the smaller. Quolls are largely solitary, nocturnal animals. The average weight differs greatly depending on the species — male western and eastern quolls weigh about 1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb) and females . The tiger quoll is the largest, with the male weighing about 7 kilograms (15.4 lb) and the female 4 kilograms (8.8 lb). The northern quoll is the smallest, and the male weighs on average 400–900 g (14.1–31.7 oz), and the female 300–500 g (10.6–17.6 oz).
Distribution and habitat
The quoll is indigenous to mainland Australia,
New GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, and
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. The six species were once widely distributed across the three land masses, but are now restricted in only a few areas. Although primarily ground-dwelling, the genus has developed secondary arboreal characteristics. Each species of quoll lives in distinct geographical areas. The tiger quoll and eastern quoll are exclusively mesic zone species, that is they inhabit moister habitats. The western quoll also inhabits mesic habitat, but has adapted to arid regions across inland Australia, while the northern quoll inhabits tropical habitat of high rainfall.
Behaviour
The quoll is a
carnivorousA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
. It is primarily nocturnal, sleeping in hollowed out logs or rocky dens and coming out to hunt during the night, though on rare occasions it can be seen looking for prey during the day. It is mostly ground-dwelling, but it is not uncommon to see a quoll climbing a tree. The quoll marks its territory several kilometres away from its den. A male's territory often overlaps many females' territories and male and female quolls only meet for mating. Quolls have communal "bathroom" spots, usually on an outcropping used for marking territory and social functions. These communal latrines may have up to one hundred droppings in them.
The quoll is a mostly solitary creature, limiting contact with others to mating or other social activities such as using the latrines.
Diet
The quoll is mostly carnivorous; the smaller quolls primarily eat insects, birds, frogs, lizards and fruit; the larger species eat birds, reptiles, and mammals, including
echidnaEchidnas , also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. There are four extant species, which, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs...
s and
possumA possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi .Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails...
s. The tiger quoll's diet is dominated by mammals such as
brushtail possumThe brushtail possums are the members of the genus, Trichosurus, a genus of marsupial in the Phalangeridae family.It contains the following species:*Northern Brushtail Possum, Trichosurus arnhemensis...
s,
rabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s and
hareHares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
s. The exact mix is variable depending on the availability of prey after bushfires, and can include carrion or bandicoots when food is scarce. The other species of quoll have also been known to eat
carrionCarrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
. The quoll's paws and
vibrissaeVibrissae , or whiskers, are specialized hairs usually employed for tactile sensation. The term may also refer to the thick hairs found inside human nostrils, but these have no sensorial function and only operate as an airborne particulate barrier...
allow it to reach into small burrows to find prey. The quoll hunts by stalking. Depending on the size of its prey, the quoll may leap or pounce on it. It pins small prey down with its front paws while devouring it, and jumps onto larger prey, sinking in its claws and closing its jaws around the neck. The quoll can obtain all the water it needs from its food, making it quite adaptable during droughts or other periods of water shortage.
Reproduction
Mating occurs during the winter months. Once a female quoll has been impregnated, the folds on her stomach convert into a pouch that opens at the back. The gestation period is 21 days. A baby quoll, or pup, is the size of a grain of rice. Up to 18 quolls are born in each litter, but only six survive the first two weeks. The survivors stay in their mother's pouch for eight weeks, suckling on one of the mother's six teats for milk. During the ninth week the pups venture out of the pouch and onto the mother's back, where they remain for six weeks. The quoll reaches maturity when it is one year old, and has a natural lifespan of between two and five years. A 2008 study of the pouches of tiger quolls reported that the pouches' appearance' were reliable indicators of the quolls' reproductive status: during the
follicular phaseThe follicular phase is the phase of the estrous cycle, during which follicles in the ovary mature. It ends with ovulation. The main hormone controlling this stage is estradiol....
, pouches were found to be red and have many secretions. Post-ovulation, pouches became deep and wet. Researchers and scientists can use this information to determine where a female quoll is in her ovarian cycle, which is anticipated to be helpful in breeding management.
Threats
Cane toadThe Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
s were introduced into
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
in 1935, since when their numbers have grown exponentially. These poisonous toads pose a significant threat to the northern quoll, which may die after consuming one. Cane toads can also shoot their venom, which can easily blind an animal. The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has stated that cane toads are highly invasive and are major threats to the quoll's survival. Predators such as foxes and cats prey on quolls and compete with them for food. For example, both quolls and foxes catch and consume rabbits. Since the introduction of foxes, the rabbit population has dropped dramatically. Foxes have been eradicated from many of the islands off the coast of Australia in an effort to protect the quoll.
The quoll is suffering badly from urbanization, housing development, mining development, and expansion of agricultural lands. Habitats are also being destroyed by large herbivores trampling the grass and overgrowth, making camouflage impossible. Forest fires and weeds also contribute to habitat destruction.
The poison sodium monofluoroacetate is commonly used in Australia to control pests such as European rabbits, foxes, feral predators, and wild dogs such as
dingoThe Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
es. It is cooked into meat which is put into the wild for the animals to ingest. The poison is extremely toxic to wild dogs and other pests, but considerably less so to quolls. Size is a main factor in how the poison will affect a quoll; larger quolls will suffer no ill effects from eating one piece of prepared meat containing sodium monofluroacetate, but will suffer if they eat more than one within a short period of time. One piece of meat may be lethal to female and juvenile quolls. Since the quoll is a carnivore and will readily consume any meat left out, it is at high risk from the poison. The meat is supposed to be buried at least 8 centimetres (3.1 in) underground, but has been found under minimal dirt that a quoll can dig around to get to it. Poisoning is currently being investigated, as many believe that the number of quolls protected from predators by the bait is much more than those who ingest the poison and die.
Conservation efforts
Since 1770, all Australian quoll species have declined in number owing to habitat loss caused by urbanization. The northern quoll is threatened by toxic
cane toadThe Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
s, but a
University of SydneyThe University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
project revealed in 2010 is teaching them to avoid eating the invasive amphibians.
In 2008 the Northern
Territory Wildlife Park in Australia recorded their first litter of quoll pups in the park. The quolls bred well in captivity, with over fifteen litters in the 2008 breeding season alone.
In late October 2011, a litter of five tiger quoll pups was born at Wild Life Sydney in Darling Harbour, Australia. The pups were born to inexperienced parents, both just one year old. The reason for the young parents was the fact that older male quolls can become violent and kill the female if they do not want to mate. By breeding one year old quolls, there was no threat of violence. Four of the quoll pups will be sent to other zoos or wildlife parks across Australia but one-whom the researchers named Nelson, will stay at the centre to become an "ambassador for all quolls".
Fox control programs have benefited the western quoll. The Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) monitors western quoll populations in the
Jarrah ForestJarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.-Location and description:The ecoregion stands on the 300m high Yilgarn block inland plateau and includes wooded valleys such as those of Western Australia's Murray River and the Helena River near...
as part of its faunal management programs, as well as ongoing research into fox control, timber harvesting, and prescribed burning. The
Perth ZooThe Perth Zoo is a zoo that opened in 1898 in South Perth, Western Australia. As of January 2011, it is home to 1258 animals of 164 species and includes an extensive botanical collection....
has been monitoring a successful captive breeding program since 1989. They have successfully bred more than sixty western quolls; most being transferred to Julimar Conservation Park, with proposals to
translocateTranslocation in wildlife conservation means capture, transport and release or introduction of species, habitats or other ecological material from one location to another...
to Wheatbelt reserves and
Shark BayShark Bay is a World Heritage listed bay in Western Australia. The term may also refer to:* the locality of Shark Bay, now known as Denham* Shark Bay Marine Park* Shark Bay , a shark exhibit at Sea World, Gold Coast, Australia* Shire of Shark Bay...
.
The bronze quoll is kept in
Wasur National ParkThe Wasur National Park forms part of the largest wetland in Papua province of Indonesia and has been the least disturbed by human activity. The high value of its biodiversity has led to the park being dubbed the "Serengeti of Papua"...
and
Tonda Wildlife Management AreaThe Tonda Wildlife Management Area is a wetland of international importance and the largest protected area in Papua New Guinea. It is located in the south-western corner of the Western Province and is contiguous with Wasur National Park of Indonesia...
. More research on distribution and threats is needed for further conservation.