Queensland’s quolls
Marsupial carnivores? Quolls?
Australia is recognised as the home of the marsupials — that fascinating group of mammals that raise their young in a pouch. But while many of us are familiar with kangaroos, koalas and possums, there are others that are virtually unknown, including one specialised group with over 50 species. This group is the marsupial carnivores.Even though the majority of the marsupial carnivores are similar in size to many of our native rats and mice, there are larger, possum-sized animals known as quolls.
In Queensland, there are two species, the spotted-tailed quoll and the northern quoll. A third species, the western quoll, once lived in Queensland but was last seen here in 1907. Due to habitat clearing and disturbance throughout much of its former range it can now only be found in a small area of Western Australia.
A double tragedy: out of sight and out of mind
The western quoll faced a double tragedy in Queensland. It not only went extinct in this state but it was so little-known that its disappearance was all but unnoticed.This same double tragedy could face the remaining two species of quoll if action is not taken to conserve them and make Queenslanders aware that these marsupial carnivores are part of this state’s wildlife. If nothing is done, future generations will only have the poorer experience of being able to look at old photographs of these animals, knowing that they will never be seen again in the wild.
Spotted-tailed quoll
Scientific name: Dasyurus maculatus (Dasy = hairy; urus = tail; maculatus = spotted) For the northern subspecies Dasyurus maculatus gracilis, gracilis means gracile or slender.Animal group: Marsupial carnivores
Conservation status: There are two subspecies of spotted-tailed quoll: the northern spotted-tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus gracilis and the southern spotted-tailed quoll D. m. maculatus. Under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 the northern spotted-tailed quoll is listed as endangered and the southern subspecies is vulnerable.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 lists both subspecies as nationally endangered.
Description:
Head–body length: 380–759mm (males); 350–450mm (females)
Tail length: 370–550mm (males); 340–420mm (females)
Weight: up to 7kg (males); up to 4kg (females)
The spotted-tailed quoll ranges in colour from rich red-brown to dark brown with white spots of varying size scattered over both the body and tail (the spotted-tailed quoll is the only quoll with spots running along the length of its tail). The fur on the underside is paler.
The head of the spotted-tailed quoll has a distinctive pink-red nose and short, rounded ears that just extend above the outline of the head. In size it is similar to a cat but with a more elongated body and shorter legs. When moving quickly it bounds and it is also an agile climber.
Another key feature is its yawning gape. Like the Tasmanian devil, the spotted-tailed quoll opens its jaws widely when threatened and gives a piercing scream that, once heard, is never forgotten. The quoll will also be vocal when encountering a potential mate or another quoll in its territory.
The spotted-tailed quoll is hard to mistake
for any other animal,
except maybe its smaller relative, the northern quoll.
Being such a secretive animal it is more likely to be discovered from the tracks and scats (droppings) that it leaves behind. Finding its scats is made more likely as the quoll uses communal latrine sites. These latrines may help an animal advertise its territory or readiness to mate.
Habitat and distribution: The spotted-tailed quoll generally occurs in densely vegetated areas ranging from rainforest through woodland to coastal heathland. Transient males are sometimes seen in more open areas.
The northern spotted-tailed quoll inhabits coastal ranges (usually 600m or more above sea level) between Townsville and Cooktown. There have also been unconfirmed sightings to the west of Townsville and as far south as the Mackay–Whitsunday area.
The southern spotted-tailed quoll occurs in coastal areas and adjacent ranges throughout south-eastern Australia from southern Queensland to South Australia and Tasmania.
Life history and behaviour: The spotted-tailed quoll is usually nocturnal and solitary. It eats a range of animals either as prey or carrion, including insects, reptiles, birds and mammals up to the size of a small wallaby. It is also attracted to areas of human habitation in search of food scraps and, in particular, poultry (see “The quoll as a chicken killer”).
Quolls are territorial with overlapping home ranges. The home ranges of individuals vary from 100–200ha for the northern spotted-tailed quoll and up to 580ha for the southern subspecies. Communal latrine sites can be found where these home ranges overlap.
Quolls will make dens in tree hollows, logs, rock crevasses and even among building materials. Maternal dens often have long entrances.
Breeding has been recorded between June and September in the northern subspecies and between April and August in the southern subspecies.
Females give birth after a 21-day gestation period and there are usually five young in a litter. The young become independent after 18 weeks. Quolls become sexually mature at 12 months and have one litter each year. Females only produce young in their first two breeding seasons and the northern subspecies is known to have a lifespan of three years.
The quoll as a chicken killer
When spotted-tailed quolls and backyard chicken runs were more common, the quoll had a reputation as a poultry killer. Often the only time anyone saw a spotted-tailed quoll was when it was discovered in a chicken run — or was shown (dead) in a photograph usually captioned something like “tiger cat — killed 37 chickens”.One of the mysteries surrounding these raids on chicken runs related to how the quoll would often kill many more chickens than it could possibly eat. Why would a quoll do this? One argument is that the quoll as a predator is simply behaving naturally and is responding to the presence of a prey animal that cannot escape. Also, the prey animal may lack the instinctive reaction to escape, making it little more than a “sitting duck” triggering the predator to go on catching and killing prey. The result is that instead of the quoll catching, killing and eating a single chicken (while any others escape), it goes on catching and killing as long as there are chickens present to trigger that behaviour. This situation has also been observed where other wild predators encounter domesticated prey.
The killing of poultry by quolls is not a serious issue in Queensland but may be a problem in isolated areas. The Tree Kangaroo and Mammal Group recommends that the netting on any fence surrounding a poultry yard should be buried at least 15 cm under the ground so that quolls can’t dig underneath. If it is a moveable chicken pen, it can have an outwardly-directed skirt of small gauge mesh around it to keep quolls out. There shouldn’t be any gaps in the netting used on a quoll-proof fence.
The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service has also developed guidelines for how to protect poultry from spotted-tailed quolls and this information is available on their website (http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-52F7NQ?open ).
Threatening processes: Clearing for development and agriculture have reduced the area of available habitat and den sites and caused declines in populations and even local extinctions. Clearing has also exposed spotted-tailed quolls to secondary threats including indirect poisoning from 1080 baiting, hunting, vehicle mortality, predation and competition from feral animals and its eradication as a pest of poultry. Feeding on cane toads has also resulted in the poisoning of animals.
Recovery actions: A “quollseekers” community program is now recording sightings of spotted-tailed quolls as a way of monitoring changes to their populations and overall distribution (visit http://www.quollseekers.com).
Greater awareness of quolls is also needed, particularly to encourage landholders to protect these animals on private land through preserving its habitat, building quoll-proof poultry yards and responsibly managing dogs and cats.
Studies are underway to ensure wild dog-baiting programs do not impact on spotted-tailed quolls. When baiting for pest animals you need to ensure that quolls are not inadvertently poisoned. Baits should not be laid within 300m of forest edge and should be buried more than 10cm deep to deter quolls from digging them up.
Northern quoll
Scientific name: Dasyurus hallucatus (Dasy = hairy; urus = tail; hallucatus = refers to the presence of a hallux or big toe on the hind foot)Animal group: Marsupial carnivores
Conservation status: The northern quoll is listed as Common in the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and nationally Endangered under the Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Description:
Head–body length: 123–310mm (males); 125–300mm (females)
Tail length: 127–308 mm (males); 200–300 mm (females)
Weight: 400–900 g (males); 300–500 g (females)
The northern quoll is the smallest of the quolls and varies from grey-brown to brown in colour with large white patches on its body (no white patches on its tail). Its chest and belly are cream or white in colour.
It has a pointed face similar to many of the smaller marsupial carnivores. It can be distinguished from the other quolls by its small size, unspotted tail and the clearly striated (ridged) pads on its hind feet that assist in climbing.
Habitat and distribution: The northern quoll lives in a range of open woodland and open forest types preferring rocky areas. Its greatest breeding success is known to occur at sites near water.
Their distribution ranges over northern Australia including the northern and eastern half of Queensland. The present distribution of the northern quoll has contracted throughout its former range and in Queensland it is now fragmented into a number of populations with the highest densities found in Cape York, the Atherton Tablelands and the Mackay–Whitsunday area.
Occasionally there are records of northern quolls as far south as Maleny on the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Behaviour and reproduction: The northern quoll is nocturnal and equally at home on the ground or when climbing in trees. It shelters in tree hollows and feeds on a variety of prey ranging from insects and reptiles to small mammals and even fruit. It is known for its aggressive behaviour when disturbed.
Females lack a pouch but the area develops around the six or eight teats, creating a flap of skin that helps to contain the young. The young are born in July after a short gestation period of just less than a month and are carried by the mother for another eight to ten weeks. After this time the young detach from the teats and are suckled in a nest until they are five months old. Up to one-third of a litter may die during this period. The surviving young have been observed still suckling from the mother on a stretched teat while clinging to her back.
Adults become sexually mature at 12 months and live for two or three years.
Threatening processes: Habitat destruction for agriculture and urban development is the main threat facing the northern quoll. The fragmentation of its habitat then exposes it to a range of other threats ranging from vehicle mortality and predation by feral animals to poisoning by cane toads.
Be Alert, be aware…
The spread of cane toads into the Northern Territory is now resulting in the local extinctions of northern quoll populations.How do you know if a quoll has been poisoned by a cane toad?
Although researchers in the Northern Territory have not directly observed quolls being poisoned by cane toads, dead northern quolls found in areas recently colonised by cane toads have been found with these same features:
- Red irritation of lips and gums
- Nose and ear bleeds (sometimes)
- Red skin on the nose, roof of mouth and in the pouch area
- Bright purple teats
Recovery actions: There is a need to raise community awareness about northern quolls to ensure that they receive greater protection outside protected areas. In particular, landholders need to be encouraged to protect these animals on private land through habitat protection and responsible pet management. Building quoll-proof poultry yards will ensure that quolls are no longer a problem to poultry.
Information sources:
Braithwaite, R.W., and Begg, R.J. (2000). Northern quoll, in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia, Reed New Holland, Sydney.
Edgar, R., and Belcher, C. (2002). Spotted-tailed Quoll, in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia, Reed New Holland, Sydney.
EPBC Act Administrative Guidelines on Significance Supplement for the Tiger Quoll (southeastern mainland population) and the Use of 1080. www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/guidelines/tiger-quoll/index.html
Maxwell, S., Burbidge, A., and Morris, K. (1996) The 1996 Action Plan for Australian Marsupials and Momotremes. Wildlife Australia, Endangered Species Program Project Number 500.
Oakwood, M. (2004). Case of the disappearing spots, Nature Australia, Spring 2004, Australian Museum.
Queensland Museum, (1995). Wildlife of Greater Brisbane. Queensland Museum.
Triggs, B. (2005). Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: a field guide to Australian mammals. Revised edition. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Useful websites:
Quollseekers Network (www.quollseekers.com)
Tree kangaroo and mammal group (www.tree-kangaroo.net/projectsResearch.html#Quoll)
Last updated: 10 April 2006
