Quolls have no business being that cute
Bec Crew
Bec Crew
Quolls are underrated icons of the Australian wilderness. Of the six known species of quoll in the world, four are native to Australia. They’re our second-largest carnivorous marsupial, after the Tasmanian devil.
With strong claws and razor-sharp teeth, quolls have a fierce reputation. They also have the sweetest little spots, fluffy tummies and soft pink noses. So, can we keep them?
Actively domesticating quolls is something scientists have seriously considered in the past, mainly as a way to ensure their long-term survival (Australia does have a terrible reputation for letting its native species die out, after all).
Despite the fact that quolls have one of the most intimidating bites in the animal kingdom – the tiger quoll, also known as the spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), has the second-strongest bite, relative to size, of any predatory mammal in the world, also after the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) and a scream that sounds like a circular saw, they can actually learn to live with humans relatively easily.
“[Q]uolls are typically calm, and recaptured animals readily habituate to humans,” University of New England researchers wrote for The Conversation back in 2015, when the idea was gaining traction. “The right combination of calm quoll and tolerant human (or perhaps vice versa) would conceivably be a great match.”
Only real problem, the researchers say, is that it’s not going to protect the species in the wild if quolls were suddenly allowed to enter Australian homes. There are about as many pet tigers in the world as wild ones, they argue, which suggests the pet trade isn’t doing much for actual conservation efforts.
So, we might just have to admire quolls from afar.
Other than the tiger/spotted-tailed quoll, which is found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, we have the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), found in the eastern parts of Tasmania and the western quoll, or chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii), in the south-western corner of Western Australia.
We also have the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), which lives along the north coast of Australia. It’s the smallest species of quoll in Australia, weighing in at just over a kilo.
Funnily enough, the smallest quoll is also the most aggressive – and it has a weird sex life. Researchers have recorded male northern quolls walking more than 10km in one night in search of a mating partner – which is like a human walking 40km in one night, based on average stride length.
This behaviour is so extreme, some males die from exhaustion. Which is honestly too much drama, and I don’t want that in my house. Guess we really should just stick with regular cats!
