032 Rock ’N’ Roll with a Northern Quoll

From the same Dasyuridae family as the Tassie Devil, but nowhere near as grumpy and violent, comes this little devil.

Part of the 100 Things To Do In Australia Before You Die was to “Dance with the Devil in Tasmania”, referring to the mind-blowing experience of observing a Tassie Devil in full-gore feasting mode. This year’s version is from the same Dasyuridae family as the Tassie Devil, but nowhere near as grumpy and violent.

At about 30cm long, the Northern Quoll is the smallest and most timid of the four types of Australian Quoll (Tiger, Eastern and Western). Interestingly, the main threat to the Northern Quoll is the insidious cane toad, the hunting down and killing of which is mentioned elsewhere on this list.

Nice to know the problem isn’t humans, for once. Although those pesky cane toads didn’t exactly hop here by themselves.

Where // Northern Quolls inhabit southeast Qld, parts of the NT and in WA’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions. For more info on this and other endangered species, check out WWF Australian at www.wwf.org.au  

Did you know? // According to Annette Cook from the University of Western Australia, “Male northern quolls are reported to be semilparous [mate only once during their lifetime]; they die shortly after their first breeding season, which only lasts about three weeks.”