The eastern quoll, a small nocturnal marsupial once common across eastern Australia, is showing signs of recovery after years of decline.
asserted
quoll → show → decline
Captive-bred eastern quolls released in Tasmania have successfully reproduced, with one female carrying six joeys in her pouch.
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female → breed → pouch
Eastern quolls are considered extinct in the wild on mainland Australia.
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quolls → consider → Australia
According to Mongabay, the species disappeared from the mainland by the 1960s after facing several threats, including habitat loss, disease, road accidents and predation by cats, dogs and invasive foxes.
uncertain
species → accord → cats
Wild eastern quoll populations still survive in Tasmania, where foxes are absent.
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foxes → survive → Tasmania
However, researchers have also recorded a decline in the Tasmanian population.
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researchers → record → population
Conservationists are now using captive breeding and rewilding programmes to help strengthen these remaining populations and bring the species back to areas where it has disappeared.
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it → use → areas
It has two main colour forms- light fawn and blackish-brown, both with white spots across the body.
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It → have → body
How quolls disappered
Eastern quolls were once widespread along Australia's eastern coastal fringe.
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quolls → disappere → fringe
Historical accounts described them as being in 'plague abundance'.
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accounts → describe → abundance
Farmers also valued them because they hunted rodents, while some people kept them as pets.
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people → value → pets
The species was sometimes called a 'native cat' in the 1800s because of its size and hunting behaviour, which were similar to those of domestic cats brought to Australia by European settlers.
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which → call → settlers
That widespread presence did not last.
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presence → last → ?
By the 1960s, the last known eastern quoll population on mainland Australia had disappeared.
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population → disappear → Australia
Several factors contributed to the decline, including disease, loss of habitat, collisions with vehicles and attacks by cats, dogs and invasive foxes.
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factors → contribute → cats
There was a possible sign that some eastern quolls may have survived longer than official records suggested.
uncertain
records → be → ?
In 2016, a taxidermied eastern quoll surfaced after reportedly being collected as roadkill in Barrington Tops, northwest of Sydney, in 1989.
uncertain
quoll → taxidermie → 1989
The specimen had been handed to the National Parks and Wildlife Service almost three decades later.
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specimen → hand → Service
Today, Tasmania remains an important refuge for the species.
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Tasmania → remain → species
The island has no invasive fox population, although conservationists are concerned about the impact of cats.
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conservationists → have → cats
Cats remain a threat
David Hamilton, a conservation ecologist at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy and an adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania, is part of a group studying the threats facing eastern quolls.
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Hamilton → remain → quolls
Research published in 2023 found a major decline in eastern quoll numbers across Tasmania.
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Research → publish → Tasmania
The study used historical wildlife survey data and more recent sightings.
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study → use → data
It found that populations had declined sharply around 2000 and again in 2009.
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populations → find → 2009
“Some of the research that has come out over the last decade or so shows this concerning downward trajectory in eastern quolls in Tasmania,” Hamilton said.
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Hamilton → come → Tasmania
“There was a steep decline around the start of this century, and that’s continued unabated in some areas, whereas in some others they’ve recovered relatively well,” he told Mongabay.
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he → be → Mongabay
“While the initial declines were strongly linked to climate, we don’t really know why some populations have failed to recover.”
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populations → link → climate
Researchers and conservationists from universities, zoos, sanctuaries, non-governmental organisations and captive-breeding facilities are working together to understand the problem.
Rob Brewster, rewilding manager for the Invasive Species Council, believes cats are a major contributor to eastern quoll deaths in Tasmania.
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cats → work → Tasmania
“We know that some of our quolls that we’ve released in Tasmania as part of that Tasmanian Land Conservancy-University of Tasmania partnership have been killed by cats,” Brewster said.
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Brewster → know → cats
“We can directly implicate cats in the decline of eastern quoll populations in Tasmania.”
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We → implicate → Tasmania
Captive-breds reproduce
Conservationists are using 'rewilding' to strengthen eastern quoll populations.
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Conservationists → use → populations
The approach has involved several trials.
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approach → involve → trials
A 2025 study recorded the release of 20 captive-bred adult eastern quolls including 10 males and 10 females at Silver Plains, a 6,500-hectare conservation property owned by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.
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study → record → Conservancy
Researchers expected the released animals to reproduce.
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animals → expect → ?
However, genetic testing of juveniles captured in December 2021 and January 2022 showed that none of the released adults from the 2020 group had contributed to the population.
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none → capture → population
“We think that was partly down to the fact that there was a release of adults who hadn’t had any reproductive experience in the wild,” Hamilton said.
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Hamilton → think → wild
The researchers then changed their approach.
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researchers → change → approach
Later releases included both adult and juvenile eastern quolls and took place in areas where populations were struggling to recover.
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populations → include → areas
After an initially slow start, captive-bred quolls released there in 2025 successfully reproduced.
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quolls → breed → 2025
One released female now has six joeys in her pouch.
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female → release → pouch
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
