Home / Environment / Quolls Rebound: Tasmania Sees Hope for Endangered Marsupial
Quolls Rebound: Tasmania Sees Hope for Endangered Marsupial
4 Sep
Summary
- Captive-bred eastern quolls released in Tasmania are successfully reproducing.
- Eastern quolls are extinct in the wild on mainland Australia.
- Conservationists use captive breeding and rewilding to aid quoll recovery.
The eastern quoll, a native Australian marsupial, is showing promising signs of recovery thanks to successful breeding programs in Tasmania. Once common across eastern Australia, the species vanished from the mainland by the 1960s due to threats like habitat loss, disease, and predation by introduced foxes and cats.
While wild populations persist in Tasmania, researchers noted a significant decline around the turn of the century and again in 2009. Conservationists are employing rewilding strategies, including the release of captive-bred individuals. A recent trial at The Quoin property saw a released female eastern quoll successfully raise six joeys.
Returning eastern quolls to mainland Australia remains challenging. A 2018 pilot program in Booderee National Park saw many quolls lost to fox predation. Sydney Zoo is now establishing a breeding program to release quolls into fox-free, fenced conservation areas on the mainland, aiming to restore the species' vital role as a scavenger and predator of pests.
