Western Quoll

They are about the size of a domestic cat. They have 40–70 white spots on its back with a creamy white underside. Its spots actually help diminish its outline from the moon at night when hunting. It has five toes on its hind feet and granular pads. The head and body are about 36-46 cm in length, and the tail is around 22-30 cm. With large eyes and pointed ears, it is well adapted for nocturnal life. The black brush on its tail extends from halfway down to the tip. The longest they are likely to live is four years. Often confused with eastern quoll, it differs in possessing a first toe on the hind foot and a darker tail. It does share a white-spotted brown coat and a long tail with both the eastern quoll and northern quoll.

Habitat

Once found across 70% of the Australian continent, they are now confined to south-western corner of Western Australia. It currently inhabits wet and dry sclerophyll forests, including contiguous Jarrah Forest and mallee. These areas consist of open forest, low open forest, woodland, and open shrub. As a result of its carnivorous feeding habits, the western quoll has a large home range. Males spread out over about 15 square kilometres and typically overlap with several female ranges, about three to four square kilometres each. Although males share their large territories with smaller female territories, females do not cross theirs with other females. Most female home ranges contains around 70 hollow log dens and 110 burrows.

Diet

They are at the top of the food chain, and depends on resource abundance and a healthy ecosystem. Being a carnivore, they feeds on large invertebrates and any small animal it can. This includes lizards, birds, frogs, spiders, insects, and small mammals; the largest it will eat is the size of a bandicoot or parrot. They hunt mostly on the ground, but will climb a tree to grab a bird's egg. A bite to the back of the head kills their larger prey. It possesses an ability to obtain most of its water from its food, which is especially handy for survival during a drought.

Breeding

As seasonal breeders, western quolls mate between late April to July, and have a peak in June.[12] During this time, the western quoll tends to take up large areas of habitat, and females aggressively defend their territory of 55-120 ha. Male and female quolls meet up only to mate. Although there are occasional cases when more young are produced than can be nursed, most litters range from two to six. There is a gestational period of 16-23 days which is followed by the young living in their mother's shallow pouch. After another seven to fifteen weeks, the young outgrow the pouch and are left in the den while the female forages for food. Weaned at 23 to 24 weeks, western quoll are independent at 18 weeks and are sexually mature at one year of age. The young disperse in November before taking up their own territories.

Population

According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of Western quolls is 12,000-15,000 individuals. This species is currently classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today remain stable. At European settlement, they were relatively abundant across its extensive range , but declined rapidly from the early nineteenth century.

In the 1980s, the population was estimated to be <6000, including an estimated 2500-4400 in the jarrah forest (based on trapping records from 1974-1988). However, numbers are now higher due to fox control and translocations, but in 2008 may still have been <10 000. However, its estimated that there were 12 500 in the jarrah forest, and 2000 in the wheatbelt and Goldfields. Isolated subpopulations may be small.

Threats

Main threats to Western quolls are land clearing, inappropriate fire regimes, use of pesticides by surrounding farmers, grazing by stock and feral herbivores, illegal shooting, accidental drowning in water tanks, being hit by motor vehicles, entanglement in barbed wire fencing, and poisoning are all responsible for their disappearances. Feral cats have a massive impact; both predation and competition narrow room for Western quolls. As more land became less suitable for living in, these animals are forced to move elsewhere. Predation by introduced Red Fox and feral Cat are the major threats.

Conservation

Recovery actions:

Habitat management, including research into effects of burning regimes on Western Quoll diet and breeding, maintenance of adequate refuge and den logs, rehabilitation after surface mining, limiting clearing of habitat and public education and forest traffic management.
Research into the effects of the fox and fox baiting programs
Population and habitat monitoring
Research to determine distribution and habitat requirements in wheatbelt and semi-arid areas
Captive breeding
Translocation.

The recovery plan was implemented with coordination overseen by the Chuditch Recovery Team, which first met in 1992. All actions have been completed or are ongoing.

A revised recovery plan was prepared in 2012, with the following recovery actions:

Retain and improve habitat critical for survival
Determine impacts of feral Cats on Western Quolls
Determine the impact of feral cat control methods on Western Quoll
Continue, expand and improve baiting foxes and feral cats
Determine population abundance and distribution of Western quoll populations
Establish reference sites for monitoring Western Quoll population abundance to evaluate the effectiveness of fox and cat control
Undertake and monitor translocations to increase the extent of occurrence
Increase public awareness through community education and enforcement of regulations
Coordinate recovery implementation