Bush Buds: Spotted Tail Quoll
Event description
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About me:
A top predator, the spotted-tailed quoll, or tiger quoll, is mainland Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial. It plays an important role in maintaining ecosystems by regulating the populations of many of its prey species, and keeping pest species in check like rabbits. Spotted-tailed quolls live in a wide variety of habitats including forests, woodlands, coastal heathlands and rainforests. They are sometimes seen in open country or on grazed areas near larger areas of forested habitats. They are mainly solitary animals and will make their dens in rock outcrops, small caves, hollow logs and hollows in standing trees. They use these dens for shelter and to raise their young.
The spotted-tailed quoll is about the size of a domestic cat but with shorter legs and a pointed face. The average weight of an adult male is about 3 kg, with adult females averaging around 1.5–2 kg. They have rich-rust to dark-brown fur, irregular white spots on their back and tail (which can be indistinct in juveniles) and a pale belly. The spotted tail distinguishes it from all other Australian mammals, including other quoll species.
Interestingly, Spotted-tailed quolls use communal latrine (toilet) sites. Quool toilets are often on flat rocks among rocky outcrops and cliff lines or along rocky creek lines. Latrines are visited by multiple individuals and are recognisable by the accumulation of the characteristic ‘twisty-shaped’ faeces deposited by the animals
Threats:
Since European settlement, the Spotted-tailed Quoll has declined in both distribution and abundance. Populations have become fragmented and isolated and the mainland range has been reduced by 50–90%.This reduction in distribution and population has been caused by: loss, fragmentation and degradation of suitable habitat through land clearing, change in fire patterns and logging, loss of potential den sites such as large hollow logs. foxes and cats which prey on quolls and also compete with them for food.
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