Rain Forest

Spotted Tailed
QUOLL

Australia has four species of quoll (Aboriginal for tiger cat):  northern, western, eastern, and spotted tailed.

The spotted tailed quoll is the world's second largest carnivorous (meat eating) marsupial. The Tasmanian devil is the largest. The spotted tailed quoll is sometimes referred to as a tiger quoll, or a tiger cat


DESCRIPTION
 Quolls are generally the size of house cats, with the Spotted Tailed quoll being the largest of the quoll species. The spotted tailed quoll's fur ranges from orange brown to reddish brown to dark chocolate brown to almost black, with white spots. Its underbelly is often  cream to white. This species of quoll is the only one in which the pattern of white spots on the body is continued onto the tail. The pattern is different on each animal. Its face is composed of a moist pink nose, pointy ears, a thick snout and a mouth that can open wide to show a lot of sharp teeth. Males measure up to 130 cm long and 4 kg in weight. Females are significantly smaller than males. The long tail is not prehensile, which means it is not used like a fifth leg or arm in climbing.

LOCATION & HABITAT

Mainly found in Tasmania, the spotted tailed quoll is also found in spots along the Eastern seaboard of the mainland (Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales). They live in most types of forests so long as there is plenty of ground cover.


HABITS

The spotted tailed quoll is a solitary, nocturnal animal, sheltering by day in burrows, tree holes, hollow logs or rock crevices. Occasionally, in cold weather, it may sunbask or forage in daylight. They are very agile moving through the forest both up in the trees and on the forest floor


FEEDING

Primarily a predator, the spotted tailed quoll is a hunter of other animals such as rats, birds, frogs, possums, reptiles, insects, rabbits, mice etc. Spotted tailed quolls kill their prey by biting their victim behind the head. They also are scavengers (often seen at picnic spots and camping grounds), and they eat carrion.

BREEDING

Twenty-one days after mating (between April and July), the young are born. The first 6 to crawl into their mothers pouch (quolls are marsupials) and attach themselves to one of the 6 teats will survive. The others will die. At this stage, they are hairless, measure 1 gram, and are around 7 mm in length. They will stay in the pouch for 7 weeks and then, when furred, will live in the grass-lined den still suckling their mother's milk for 6 more weeks. This allows the female to forage for food. The next 6 weeks include times outside the den learning to hunt, eat meat, fight, etc., until at around 18 weeks when they will start their independent life. Life expectancy is around 6 years.

DECLINE

Quolls are now an endangered species, with the spotted tailed quoll seriously threatened in its mainland habitat. Introduced species such as foxes, cats and dogs,  have greatly reduced their numbers, as have diseases and the destruction of their forest habitat. These introduced animals compete with the quolls for food as well as prey on them.

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