Spotted Quoll Taxonomy Life History Range And Habitat

__NOTOC__ The Spotted Quoll, also known as the Spotted-tail Quoll and the Tiger Quoll, is a carnivorous marsupial mammal, native to Australia. It is mainland Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial.

1 Taxonomy

The Spotted Quoll belongs to the Dasyuridae family, which also includes other species of quollQuolls : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Marsupialia : Dasyuromorphia : Dasyuridae : Dasyurus Quolls (genus Dasyurus are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35s, the extinct ThylacineThe Tasmanian Tigers is the name of the Tasmanian state cricket team. The Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus was a large carnivorous marsupial native to Australia. In the early days of European settlement it was known as the Tasmanian Tiger or Tasmanian Wo, the Tasmanian DevilThis is an article about a real animal. For the cartoon character, see The Tasmanian Devil. The Tasmanian Devil Sarcophilus harrisii is a carnivorous marsupial found exclusively on the island of Tasmania. The size of a small dog but stocky and muscular, t and many smaller carnivores. There are three other species of quoll in Australia; two more live in Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the other half is the Papua province of Indonesia). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, north of Australia, and west of the Solomon Islands..

2 Life history

The Spotted Quoll ranges from 35 to 75 cm in length and has a tail of about 34 to 50 cm. Females are smaller than than the males: while females grow to four kilograms, males can reach up to 7 kg. Quolls have thick, soft fawn, brown or black fur. Small white spots cover the body except for the bushy tail, which may have a white tip.

Quolls feed on a large range of prey including birds, rats and other marsupials, small reptiles and insects. They are good climbers but spend most of their time on the forest floor. Although nocturnal, they spend the daylight hours basking in the sun. They nest in rocky banks, hollow logs or small caves.

They produce one litter a year with four to six young. The gestation period is 21 days. The young remain in their mother's pouch for about seven weeks, and it takes some 18 weeks for them to become independent of the mother. Sexual maturity is reached after one year. Spotted Quolls can get 4 to 5 years old.

3 Range and Habitat

Range of the Spotted Quoll:
D.m. gracilis and D.m. maculatus.

Before European settlement the southern subspecies had a range extending from southern Queensland through coastal New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania. It is now confined to a few areas, mostly in national parks, and listed as threatened in all mainland states. Land clearing, habitat destruction, foxes and feral and domestic cats have led to the decline.

The northern subspecies of the Spotted Quoll lives in restricted areas around Cairns and Cooktown in northern Queensland, and also in Papua New Guinea. It is slightly smaller than the southern subspecies.

4 Conservation Status

The Spotted Quoll is listed by the IUCN on the Red List of Threatened Species with the status "vulnerable". The Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage considers the northern subspecies D.m. gracilis as endangered.

5 External links

Description from the University of Michigan
Another description from Australia.
Australian Web Site
Australian Quoll Seekers
Spotted Quoll entry in the IUCN Red List.
Action Plan for Australian Marsupials and Monotremes.

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