The Quoll is a small marsupial native to Australia where they thrived in many numbers until the arrival of European colonists. Today the four known species of Quoll are either endangered or near-threatened and are limited to specific areas of Australia. Quolls have pointed pink noses, rounded protruding ears, bushy tails, and distinctively spotted coats that vary in color.
Interesting facts about quolls:
- Quolls are nocturnal predators and prefer to hunt alone. Their diet consists of a wide variety of small mammals, reptiles, insects, small birds, and bird eggs.
- Quolls make their dens in a variety of places. Dens are often found in burrows in the ground, hollows in trees, logs, and rock fissures. The Northern Quoll is known to make dens in termite mounds.
- Quolls reproduce within their first year of life. Male quolls usually die after mating. Few Quolls, whether male or female, make it past their second mating season.
- Quoll pups spend their first nine weeks sheltered in their mother’s pouches and usually leave their den at five months old. Quolls are born in litters of between five to eight pups.
- Quolls generally have short life spans, which average at around four years maximum but are known to live longer in captivity.
- The Spotted-tail Quoll is the largest of the species, while the Northern Quoll is the smallest and is also the most aggressive.
- While the biggest threat to quolls is habitat loss due to human activity, feral cats and red foxes also threaten their numbers considerably.
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