Quoll | |
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Eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) | |
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Genus: | Dasyurus É. Geoffroy, 1796
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Quolls (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and Papua New Guinea.[1] There are six species of quoll, four in Australia and two in New Guinea.
The name dasyurus means "hairy tail".[2] Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35 cm long (about the size of a cat). Like all marsupials, females have a pouch to carry their babies.
Quolls are threatened by eating toxic cane toads, but a University of Sydney project is teaching them not to eat the toads.[3]
The family Dasyurini to which quolls belong also includes the Tasmanian devil, antechinuses, the kowari, and mulgaras.[1]