A secretive native animal feared to have nearly vanished from Queensland's Atherton Tablelands has surprised and delighted researchers in promising numbers.
The spotted-tailed quoll — Dasyurus maculatus — is the second-largest carnivorous marsupial in Australia after the Tasmanian devil and there are two recognised subspecies found along eastern Australia, stretching from Queensland's far north to Tasmania.
A 2020 James Cook University (JCU) study found that quolls had completely disappeared from parts of their former range in the Wet Tropics and had declined to very low numbers in areas such as the Atherton Tablelands.
Using hidden cameras, volunteers from the Australian Quoll Conservancy (AQC) have recorded more than 20 quolls at the Danbulla National Park near Lake Tinaroo.
AQC president Alberto Vale explained quoll numbers had not necessarily substantially increased, but rather the use of technology allowed more quolls to be recorded.
"Quolls are very secretive and unless you look for them you aren't going to find them," he said.
"We lure the animals, which we have permits for, and then we are able to monitor their numbers through motion-sensor cameras.
"You just can't expect someone coming from Brisbane or Townsville to do one month of research and come back with a pattern of population numbers just in a month."
Capturing vision, not quolls
The AQC team records the quolls by strategically placing non-invasive motion-sensor cameras around the national park behind low-hanging lures.
Recorded vision and photos shows the quolls standing up to grab hold of the lure.
The vision can then determine the sex, height, pouch development and approximate age of the quoll.
The cameras stream back to a server in real time, meaning the sites are left untouched and the quolls do not need to be captured.
"We don't touch them, we don't use caging, we don't do anything that will interfere with the species and that is one the best ways to study them," Mr Vale said.
Populations under threat
The spotted-tailed quoll has suffered a "substantial decline in range and abundance since European settlement", according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, with many populations "fragmented and isolated".
Associate Professor at James Cook University Dr Conrad Hoskin was lead author of the study in 2020 that found a worrying decline of the Spotted-tailed Quoll in Far North Queensland.
"It's nice to see that there is evidence to see that they are breeding on the Tablelands," he said.
"The number has certainly declined over the past 20 years to very low numbers. It's great to see that there is now evidence of youngsters; it will be interesting to see over the next few years if they make it to adults.
"We [JCU] have another estimate coming out next year, so it will be interesting to compare the numbers then."
Mr Hoskin said there were several threats to quoll numbers, but surprisingly feral cats were not among them.
"Cats and quolls avoid each other. A juvenile could get preyed on by a cat, but the females do protect the young ones," he said.
"These are strong and sizeable animals; a cat wouldn't mess with an adult quoll."
Roads and toads biggest threats
According to Mr Hoskin, the biggest threats to quolls on the Tablelands were cars and cane toads.
"There are big numbers of toads breeding in Lake Tinaroo," he said.
"We are concerned about the quolls eating toads and potentially getting poisoned"
"The other threat to spotted tailed quolls is roadkill. We certainly see some roadkill around the top of the Gillies Range.
"Road traffic is a big problem for male quolls who wander out of the tablelands during breeding season, searching for females."
