Northern Quoll

Dasyurus hallucatus

The Northern Quoll is a carnivorous mammal which is also commonly called the Northern Naive Cat. It is also the smallest of all the Quolls in Australia. It is a nocturnal animal and is recognised by the white spots that it has on back and its long tail. They can be very aggressive, hissing at other animals that threaten it and lashing out with its sharp claws and teeth. They usually inhabit areas where there are tree hollows or rock crevices and are most abundant in rocky ranges and open Eucalypt forests. Northern Quolls are Endangered in Australia due to the many threats they have from introduced animals such as Cats and Foxes, as well as the toxic Cane Toad which poisons the Quoll once it attacks the toad, thinking it is an opportunistic feed for it. Other threats are man made such as regional and residential development, hunting and bush-fires.

In order to help protect the Northern Quoll in Northern regions of East Kimberley Area from the Cane Toad, the University of Sydney has started a project to teach Quolls how to avoid the Cane Toad through Taste aversion. One of the sad features of the Northern Quoll is that after mating the male of species seems to die leaving the female of the species to raise the young alone. Which makes it even harder to prosper in the wild even with all the threats the Northern Quoll has. The Northern Quoll has been known to raid chicken and poultry yards which makes them a target by farmers but they also can be beneficial as they can destroy many mice and other agricultural pests. Status: Endangered Food: bugs, small mammals & reptiles. Location: Northern WA, Northern Territory and North QLD.