Six species of spotted carnivorous marsupials from Australia and New Guinea, also once called native cats. They are nocturnal and mostly solitary. All species have declined since European settlement, and the eastern quoll vanished from mainland Australia in the 1960s.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Mainly nocturnal, spending most of the day in a den.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAustralia, New Guinea
HabitatForest, Rainforest, Desert
ColoursBrown, White
SizeSmall
Length25–75 cm, plus a 20–35 cm tail
Weight300 g to 7 kg, depending on the species
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for2–5 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Mainland Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, now in much smaller areas than before.
- What it eats
- Small species: insects, birds, frogs, lizards and fruit. Larger ones: birds, reptiles and mammals such as possums.
Did you know
Northern quolls are being taught to avoid eating poisonous cane toads, which can kill them.
A newborn quoll is the size of a grain of rice, and a female may give birth to up to 30 but has only six or seven teats.
Quolls glow under ultraviolet light.
Often confused with
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