Skip to main content

Tiger Quoll

Dasyurus maculatus
When I wrote about the Tasmanian Devil a while back, I discovered that it was the world's largest living Marsupial carnivore. This then made me wonder what other types of Marsupial carnivores were out there. You always think about the herbivorous Koalas, Kangaroos, and Wombats, but what about the meat eaters?

Well look no further than the Quolls, an entire genus of almost cat-like predators that can be found in Australia and New Guinea. (There are other carnivorous Marsupials of course, but they are for another day).

The Tiger Quoll is the largest of all the Quolls by nearly 50% body size, and is also the largest Marsupial carnivore on the Australian mainland. They are also sometimes referred to as Spotted-Tail Quolls, which is entirely appropriate due to their spotted coats that pattern all the way down their tails.

Tiger Quoll or Spotted-Tail Quoll
Tiger Quolls hunt at night, feeding on birds, possums, reptiles, and even small Wallabies!They are able to climb trees, but they spend most of their time on the forest floor.

Females reach sexual maturity when they are a year old, and produce one litter of 4-6 every year. Tiger Quolls grow and age very quickly; young ones are completely independent from their mothers when they are only 18 weeks old.

Tiger Quolls are on a decreasing population trend due to habitat loss and fragmentation, predation from introduced dogs, and competition over food with other introduced species. Studies are being done of their diets and habitats to better understand and protect the species.
IUCN Status :  Near Threatened
Location : Eastern Australia and Tasmania
Size : Body length up to 30in (75cm), Weight 8-15lbs (4-7kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Infraclass : Marsupialia
Order : Dasyuromorphia -- Family : Dasyuridae -- Genus : Dasyurus -- Species : D. maculatus
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese Peacock

Polyplectron bicalcaratum Burmese Peacocks are also referred to as Grey Peacock-Pheasants, which is probably a more apt name, as they are not actually Peacocks... though they do belong to the same family. At any rate, they share some physical resemblances to Peacocks- most notably the eyes on their tail feathers. Burmese Peacocks are the national birds of Myanmar, which was called Burma until 1989, though some still refer to it as such. The birds live in several other Southeast Asian countries as well, and are divided into four subspecies. The species as a whole is listed as being of Least Concern , because they have a large range and population size. It unfortunately appears that they may be declining in number, but it is a slow descent that does not yet meet the vulnerability thresholds. The birds are listed under CITES Appendix II, because they can be kept in captivity and grabbing individuals from the wild could become problematic for the species. IUCN Stat...
3 comments
Read more

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more