Spotted-Tailed Quolls: living fast and dying young May 1998

Despite reports from as early as the collar several individuals to monitor their summer. They usually have 1880’s the spotted-tailed quoll movements. I’ve also been digging into their a maximum litter size of 6 remained, until very recently, one of personal quoll habits – examining their droppings young which are carried in a north Queensland’s most enigmatic – to get a better idea about what they eat. rudimentary pouch. Females mammals. Celebrated as north breed in the season following Queensland’s “mythical beast”, this their birth but have a elusive creature is somewhat of a breeding life of only two mystery to science. Until recently only years after that time. 14 specimens have been accessible for study in Australian Museums and The spotted-tailed quoll hides only a handful have been captured out in rainforests from the alive by scientists over the past 100 upland Daintree to Tully, years. although it has been sighted at sea-level at Cape As a consequence, very little is known Tribulation. Spotted-tailed about their secretive lifestyles. quolls which were once found I left no scat unturned in this investigation. However, sightings of this cat-like to the south of creature have become even more Koombooloomba and the infrequent, which has led some to Seaview Ranges seem to have Fruits of the search surmise that numbers of Australian all but disappeared since the quoll species have dramatically 1940’s. declined in recent times. My What has all this snooping around told me about investigative mission: an ecological their population structure and life span? Carnivorous, but not fussy, study of the spotted-tailed quoll in Ecologically speaking, spotted-tailed quolls “live eaters north Queensland, to find out why fast and die young”. They live only about three these cat-like creatures are so years, and those three years are action-packed. My investigations revealed uncommon. Are they endangered? Females have only one litter per year, mating in that spotted-tailed quolls are Are they being threatened by some winter and weaning their young in late spring or the most carnivorous outside force? mammals on mainland Australia: they only eat meat. To answer these questions, I needed to The Tasmanian devil is begin to unravel the secrets of their equally carnivorous but is cryptic life history. I had to go restricted to Tasmania. Other undercover, deep in the forest to really quoll species, feral cats, dingos get a clear picture of how many quolls and red foxes all regularly there are, where they hide out, what consume plant material, but habitat they prefer, what they eat, and not spotted-tailed quolls. This how far they venture from their hide- reclusive carnivore has a outs. particular fondness for other mammals – Daintree and Herbert River ringtail I surveyed the bush for signs of them possums, long-nosed and managed to capture and radio- bandicoots, musky rat kangaroos and quolls to use communal latrines for boundary also remains an important Melomys. It eats anything of animal scent marking. Unfortunately, these question which has a bearing on the origin, alive or dead (see Figure. 1). latrines are very often placed in the future survival of spotted-tailed quolls centre of maintained dirt roads. This in north Queensland. Apart from prey remains, their seemingly reckless habit makes them droppings are laced with a cocktail of very vulnerable to unfortunate If you have seen a quoll, I would like hormones which convey information encounters with motor vehicles, cane to add your sighting to my database, about the sex, the age and the toads, dingos and feral cats. or if you would like further reproductive condition of the animal. information, please contact me at: Why are spotted-tailed quolls All in a day’s work endangered? Scott Burnett Department of Zoology and Tropical Spotted-tailed quolls will venture quite The spotted-tailed quoll is probably its Ecology a distance from their home. Several own worst enemy. Populations of the James Cook University females I radio-tracked, frequently species are vulnerable to extinction if traveled straight line distances of 1 km they fail to raise young or suffer Townsville 4811 in a couple of hours during the day in unnaturally high adult death rates Ph: 07 4781 5552 search of food. over a number of successive years. Fx: 07 4725 1570 Email: [email protected] This vulnerability is further exacerbated by the behaviour of Quick Facts about Quolls individual quolls which can result in a high chance of their having a fatal Two quoll species inhabit north interaction with humans or with lethal, Queensland, the spotted-tailed introduced animals (cane toads, quoll (front picture) and the dingos). Quolls’ limited natural northern quoll (above) distribution and, consequently, very The northern quoll is smaller low numbers suggest that it may be than the spotted-tailed quoll, taking its “living fast and dying has no spots on its tail, and is young” reputation to a detrimental confined to non-rainforest extreme. habitats. The word quoll comes from an My research is now completed, but, aboriginal word from the important questions still remain, Cooktown area, Ja-quoll. particularly about gene flow. The spotted-tailed quoll is a Conservation efforts for this unique marsupial belonging to the Australian animal would be advanced genus Dasyurus which includes from understanding the genetic three other Australian and two relatedness of spotted-tailed quolls in New Guinean species. Hardly hygienic habits different populations within the wet The quolls’ closest living tropics. The ecology of quolls at the relative is the Tasmanian Devil. A particular intriguing behaviour is rainforest-agricultural landscape the propensity for spotted-tailed