Quolls have to be my favorite mammal group. They are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and nearby New Guinea. There are six species, all of them have suffered huge declines, especially the mainland Australian populations.
The Northern Quoll is the smallest and is found in the northern parts of Australia. The biggest threat has been cane toads that were introduced from central America in the 1930s. Populations have crashed and there are only a couple of places left where Northern Quolls are still common. I got this one at the Mitchell Plateau in the far northwest, currently out of reach of toads. This population is tipped to crash this coming year as toads advance.
Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) by
Nathan Litjens, on Flickr
Eastern Quolls suffered a massive crash in the 1930s, totally vanishing from the mainland of Australia. They survive in Tasmania to the south, though they have largely vanished there too in the last 3 years. This one was foraging at Mt Field in Tasmania, it was pouring with rain and this image had to be heavily edited as the camera was fogged too.
Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverinus) by
Nathan Litjens, on Flickr
The final species for me to date is the Spot Tailed or Tiger Quoll. The largest surviving species, it too has suffered big declines. Once common on the east coast, it has not died out completely but is certainly rare on the mainland. I have, in years of going out into the bush only seen one individual on the east coast, and it was less than 5 minutes dead on the road. In Tasmania they still thrive and can cause headaches for farmers when they eat chickens. This one was at a lodge in the forest of northwestern Tasmania.
Spot tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus) by
Nathan Litjens, on Flickr
Sorry about the watermarks, I have grown tired of people pinching my hard-won images.
Nathan
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