Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Spot­ted-tail quolls (Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus) are found in Aus­tralia. Their dis­tri­b­u­tion in Aus­tralia ranges from south­east­ern Queens­land to east­ern New South Wales, Vic­to­ria, south­east­ern South Aus­tralia, and Tas­ma­nia. Within these ge­o­graph­i­cal ranges, two sub­species of spot­ted-tailed quolls exist: D. mac­u­la­tus mac­u­la­tus and the D. mac­u­la­tus gra­cilis. Spot­ted-tail quolls from the sub­species D. m. mac­u­la­tus are rarely found in south­east­ern Queens­land and al­most ex­tir­pated from south­east­ern South Aus­tralia, but most com­monly found in Vic­to­ria and New South Wales from the coast to the snow­lines. Spot­ted-tail quolls from the other sub­species, D. m. mac­u­la­tus, are most com­monly re­ported in Tas­ma­nia. They occur in North­ern Queens­land from sea level to the Wet Trop­ics Area and higher al­ti­tude areas. (Jones, et al., 2001)

• Biogeographic Regions
• australian
  • native

Habi­tat

Spot­ted-tail quolls have been found in dry and wet scle­ro­phyll forests, ri­par­ian forests, rain­forests, wood­lands, and open pas­tures. Dry scle­ro­phyll are typ­i­cally multi-aged tree stands with hard-leafed dom­i­nated under sto­ries con­sist­ing of shrubs, sedges, and bracken ferns. Wet scle­ro­phyll are the areas be­tween dry scle­ro­phyll forests and rain­for­est. They also had ten­den­cies to use gul­lies and ri­par­ian flats to avoid mid-slopes as well as hav­ing more avail­abil­ity to prey. Spot­ted-tail quolls from the sub­species D. m. mac­u­la­tus re­quire a lot of ground cover for den­ning sites as well as rock out crop­ping for den­ning. Rocky out­crops are more pref­er­en­tial for den­ning than wooden den sites. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2003; Belcher and Dar­rant, 2005; For­est Ed­u­ca­tion Foun­da­tion, 2010)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

• Wetlands
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• riparian

• Range elevation

  sea level to 1,500 m

  to ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Male spot­ted-tail quolls are typ­i­cally larger than the fe­males in mass and over­all size. Males will mea­sure 38 to 76 cm from head to body length and 37 to 55 cm in tail length and av­er­age about 3.5 kg. Fe­males mea­sure 35 to 45 cm from head to body length and 34 to 42 cm in tail length and av­er­age about 1.8 kg. Spot­ted-tail quolls are the largest na­tive car­niv­o­rous mar­su­pial as well as the largest Dasyurid. It can be dis­tin­guished be­tween the other quoll species by their spot­ted pat­tern. Spot­ted-tail quolls have a red-brown body with bold white spots all over their body in­clud­ing their tail. It is the only quoll to have spots on their tails. ("Quolls of Aus­tralia", 2004; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  1.8 to 7 kg

  3.96 to 15.42 lb

• Average mass

  1.8 to 3.5 kg

  lb

• Range length

  69 to 113 cm

  27.17 to 44.49 in

• Average length

  75 cm

  29.53 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  3.142 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

When the fe­male is ready to mate, with a short es­trous pe­riod of only 3 to 4 days, the fe­male will leave her scent at the com­monly shared la­trines for males to sense. When a male finds her, they will em­bark on a se­ries of vo­cal­iza­tions. The male will fol­low the fe­male around and as she oc­ca­sion­ally lifts her hind quar­ters to allow the male to sniff. When she does this, she will start to vo­cal­ize and the male will be silent dur­ing those times. When cop­u­la­tion oc­curs, the male will brace him­self on top of the fe­male by hold­ing the back of her neck with his teeth and stroking her sides and pal­pi­tat­ing her ab­domen. Oc­ca­sion­ally the male will re­lease his hold on the back of the fe­males neck. The fe­male will typ­i­cally re­ceive lac­er­a­tions to the back of her neck as well as a swollen neck. On rare oc­ca­sions, the fe­male is killed. Dur­ing cop­u­la­tion, the fe­male will lower her head and halfway close her eyes. Through­out cop­u­la­tion, the fe­male spot­ted-tail quoll will vo­cal­ize fre­quently. Cop­u­la­tion can last for sev­eral hours to a max­i­mum of 24 hours. ("Quolls of Aus­tralia", 2004; Jones, et al., 2001; Ruibal, et al., 2010)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Spot­ted-tail quolls cop­u­late dur­ing the months of April and July, which are Aus­tralia's win­ter months. Once fer­til­iza­tion oc­curs, the ges­ta­tion pe­riod will last 21 days. When the fe­male gives birth, off­spring mea­sure on av­er­age about 7 mm in length, are under de­vel­oped and will fur­ther de­velop in her pouch for 12 weeks. On av­er­age lit­ter size is 5 off­spring. After the 12 week pe­riod, the off­spring will start eat­ing food the fe­male brings into the pouch. At 18 to 21 weeks, the off­spring are all com­pletely in­de­pen­dent and self-sup­port­ing. Spot­ted-tail quolls reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity by 12 months. ("Quolls of Aus­tralia", 2004; Hes­ter­man, et al., 2008; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous
• post-partum estrous

• Breeding interval

  Spotted-tail quolls breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season of spotted-tail quolls is between April and July.

• Range number of offspring

  2 to 6

• Average number of offspring

  5

• Average number of offspring

  3

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  21 days

• Average gestation period

  21 days

  AnAge

• Range weaning age

  18 to 21 weeks

• Average weaning age

  18 weeks

• Average time to independence

  18 weeks

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  340 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  340 days

  AnAge

Once spot­ted-tail quolls reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity and are ca­pa­ble of mat­ing, the fe­male be­comes re­spon­si­ble for all natal care until the off­spring are in­de­pen­dent. Males per­form no natal care. While fe­males carry off­spring in their pouch, they will walk with their hind quar­ters el­e­vated so the belly does not touch the ground. This re­duces pres­sure on her off­spring. At about four weeks after off­spring are born, fe­males will start prepar­ing the den site by gath­er­ing grasses, sedges, and other soft ma­te­ri­als. After the off­spring per­ma­nently leave the pouch, moth­ers will rarely leave the den. Off­spring and their mother will call to each other for lo­ca­tion and for the off­spring to curl up to her warmth. Be­yond 100 days, fe­males spend less time with their off­spring and start to de­velop ag­gres­sion to­wards them until they are fully in­de­pen­dent of her. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2003; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Spot­ted-tail quolls in the wild have a life span rang­ing from 2 years in smaller Quolls to 4 to 5 years in larger Quolls. In cap­tiv­ity, spot­ted-tail quolls live slightly shorter lives rang­ing 3 to 4 years on av­er­age. The longest liv­ing spot­ted-tail quoll lived 6 years and 3 months in cap­tiv­ity. ("Quolls of Aus­tralia", 2004; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  3 to 6 years 3 months years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  3 to 4 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  2 to 5 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  2 to 4 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  3 to 4 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  4.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Spot­ted-tail quolls are mostly a soli­tary species with fe­males al­low­ing males to over­lap in their ter­ri­to­ries. Males typ­i­cally have a larger ter­ri­tory than the fe­males, but males ter­ri­to­ries will over­lap with each other. Fe­males typ­i­cally do not tol­er­ate other fe­males in their ter­ri­to­ries ex­clud­ing fe­male off­spring. Males are found mov­ing be­tween mul­ti­ple fe­males ter­ri­to­ries dur­ing breed­ing sea­son. While spot­ted-tail quolls are soli­tary, but in­di­vid­u­als share com­mon la­trines and den­ning sites. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2003; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• cursorial
• terricolous
• diurnal
• nocturnal
• motile
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  4,959,000 to 37,617,000 m^2

Home Range

Home ranges of males varies from 1755.4 ha to 3761.7 ha. Home ranges of fe­males are sub­stan­tially smaller, rang­ing be­tween 495.9 ha and 1113.0 ha. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2003; Jones, et al., 2001)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

To dis­play ter­ri­to­ri­al­ity, many males and fe­males will leave their scents at com­mon la­trines used by many quolls as well as leave their scents dur­ing mat­ing sea­son to let males know that they are sex­u­ally ma­ture. Dur­ing mat­ing, fe­males will make a soft coo­ing noise through the du­ra­tion of cop­u­la­tion. When the mother has her off­spring, she will call to them using spe­cific kinds of clucks and the off­spring will re­spond. If in a de­fen­sive po­si­tion, spot­ted-tail quolls will growl and make high pitched screech­ing noises to warn off en­e­mies. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2005; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Spot­ted-tail quolls are meat spe­cial­ists. They eat greater glid­ers, Eu­ro­pean rab­bits, long-nosed bandi­coots, north­ern brown bandi­coots, red-necked pademel­ons, com­mon ring­tail pos­sums, and cu­cuses. Though in­fre­quently, dur­ing the sum­mer months, spot­ted-tail quolls con­sume in­sects (Coleoptera and Ci­ca­di­dae), rep­tiles and birds. Dur­ing the win­ter months, smaller spot­ted-tail quolls con­sume more in­sects than mam­mal prey rel­a­tive to larger in­di­vid­u­als. (Glen and Dick­man, 2005; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates
  • insectivore
  • scavenger

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• carrion
• insects

Pre­da­tion

Spot­ted-tail quolls are able to hide in smaller, nar­row den sites or cav­i­ties. As well as being ter­res­trial, spot­ted-tail quolls are known to climb trees in es­cape from preda­tors. If they feel threat­ened, they will lower their ears, crouch down low to the ground, and make a screech­ing noise to warn off preda­tors. (Bors­boom, 2008; Bur­nett and Dick­man, 2011; Jones, et al., 2001)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • feral cats (Felis species)
  • red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)
  • feral dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
  • humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Spot­ted-tail quolls have no known ecosys­tem roles.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Spot­ted-tail quolls have no known pos­i­tive eco­nomic im­por­tance for hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Spot­ted-tail quolls have no known neg­a­tive eco­nomic im­por­tance for hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Spot­ted-tail quolls are near threat­ened, be­cause of the loss of habi­tats due to ur­ban­iza­tion and frag­men­ta­tion. With frag­men­ta­tion de­creased habi­tat avail­abil­ity, spot­ted-tail quolls are over­lap­ping in ter­ri­to­ries and com­pet­ing with other an­i­mals that re­quire the sim­i­lar habi­tats. Also, with the in­tro­duc­tion of red fox and the na­tive feral cats, spot­ted-tail quolls fall prey to these preda­tors. An­other sig­nif­i­cant threat is the 1080 poi­son­ing for din­goes. Spot­ted-tail quolls will take baited traps of meat with the poi­son­ing. There are a num­ber of in­ves­ti­ga­tions study­ing the ef­fects of 1080 poi­son­ing on this species. (Belcher and Dar­rant, 2003; Bors­boom, 2008; Bur­nett and Dick­man, 2011; Jones, et al., 2001)

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Stephanie Ver­jin­ski (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Christo­pher Yahnke (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Laura Podzikowski (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

Aus­tralian Gov­ern­ment. Quolls of Aus­tralia. De­part­ment of En­vi­ron­ment and Her­itage. Can­berra: Nat­ural Her­itage Trust. 2004. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2012 at http://​environment.​gov.​au/​biodiversity/​threatened/​publications/​pubs/​quolls.​pdf.

Belcher, C., J. Dar­rant. 2005. Den use by the spot­ted-tailed quoll Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus in south-east­ern Aus­tralia. Aus­tralian Mam­mol­ogy, 28: 59-64.

Belcher, C., J. Dar­rant. 2005. Habi­tat use by tiger quoll (Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus) (Mar­su­pi­alia: Dasyuri­dae) in south-east­ern Aus­tralia. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 269: 183-190.

Belcher, C., J. Dar­rant. 2003. Home range and spa­tial or­ga­ni­za­tion of the mar­su­pial car­ni­vore, Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus mac­u­la­tus (Mar­su­pi­alia: Dasyuri­dae) in south-eatern Aus­tralia. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 262: 271-280.

Bors­boom, A. 2008. "Spot­ted-tailed quoll (south­ern sub­species) Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus mac­u­la­tus" (On-line pdf). Queens­land Gov­ern­ment: En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 24, 2012 at http://​www.​derm.​qld.​gov.​au/​register/​p02353aa.​pdf.

Bur­nett, S., C. Dick­man. 2011. "IUCN RED LIST" (On-line). Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus. Ac­cessed March 29, 2012 at <www.​iucnredlist.​org>.

For­est Ed­u­ca­tion Foun­da­tion, 2010. "For­est Ed­u­ca­tion Foun­da­tion" (On-line). Dry scle­ro­phyll for­est. Ac­cessed March 29, 2012 at http://​www.​forest-education.​com/​index.​php/​tasmania/​C222/​.

Glen, A., C. Dick­man. 2005. Diet of spot­ted-tailed quoll (Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus) in eatern Aus­tralia: ef­fects of sea­son, sex and size. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 269: 241-248.

Hes­ter­man, H., S. Jones, F. Schwarzen­berger. 2008. Pouch ap­pear­abce is a re­li­able in­di­ca­tor of the re­pro­duc­tive sta­tus in the Tas­mian devil and the spot­ted -tailed quoll. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 275: 130-138.

Jones, M., R. Rose, S. Bur­nett. 2001. Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus. Mam­malian Species, 676: 1-9. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 21, 2012 at http://​www.​jstor.​org/​stable/​3504395.

Ko­rt­ner, G., S. Gresser, B. Harden. 2003. Does fox bait­ing threaten the spot­ted-tailed quoll, Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus?. Wildlife Re­search, 30(2): 111-118.

Ruibal, M., R. Peakall, A. Clar­idge. 2010. So­cio-sea­sonal changes in scent-mark­ing baits in the car­niv­o­rous mar­su­pial Dasyu­rus mac­u­la­tus at com­mu­nal la­trines. Aus­tralian Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 58: 317-322.