AY Honors/Marsupials/Answer Key

Template:Taxobox Quolls or native cats (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35 cm long. An adult male can weigh up to 4kg and be as long as 130cm. Females have six to eight nipples and develop a pouch—which opens towards the tail—only during the breeding season, when they are rearing young. The babies are the size of a grain of rice. The female can give birth to up to 6 young and the gestation period is 21 days. When they are around 20 weeks old the young become independant of the mother. Quolls live both in forests and in open valley land. Though primarily ground-dwelling, they have developed secondary arboreal characteristics. Their molars and canines are strongly developed. The Eastern spotted quoll is protected fully in Tasmania.

Taxonomy

Within the genus Dasyurus, the following species exist:

• New Guinean Quoll, Dasyurus albopunctatus, New Guinea
• Western Quoll or Chuditch, Dasyurus geoffroii, western Australia
• Northern Quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus, northern Australia
• Tiger Quoll or Spotted Quoll, Dasyurus maculatus, eastern Australia
• Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus spartacus, New Guinea
• Eastern Quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus, Tasmania (formerly mainland eastern Australia)

References

• Template:MSW3 Groves

http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-5373RD?open