When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected to catch a feral cat or fox. Instead, he caught a species that was thought extinct in South Australia more than 130 years ago.

When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected he would catch a feral cat or fox. “I’ve given the video to National Parks and Wildlife to see what animal took the food, but I think it was another quoll or quolls.”

But he said the spotted-tailed quoll was “considered extinct” in the region.

Mr Anderson said his team was keen to determine where the animal came from and whether it is part of a larger population.

Critically endangered population drops The spotted-tailed quoll is the largest quoll species in Australia, approximately twice the size of the western quoll, which was reintroduced into the Flinders Ranges in South Australia as part of Operation Bounceback in 2019.

  • Jay@lemmy.caEnglish
    35·
    9 months ago

    Chook= chicken in australianese. (I had to look that up.)

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The original quoll escaped the cage Mr Tsai put it in but another one — or most likely the same one — was caught in another trap set by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) on Wednesday.

    Following his incredible discovery, Mr Tsai has laid pieces of fish around his farm and set up a video camera overnight on Wednesday to see if he could get footage of other quolls.

    Limestone Coast district ranger Ross Anderson said NPWS was “blown away” by the animal’s re-emergence in the state after 130 years.

    “Part of the reason they’re thought to have become extinct here in the South East is due to a loss of habitat, but they can survive anywhere from forests to more open country,” he said.

    We wouldn’t recommend people try to trap them or interact with them themselves, however – but trail cameras are a really good way of recording and monitoring any suspected quoll populations or activity in the local area."

    They are mainland Australia’s largest marsupial predator; a stealthy, elusive nocturnal hunter and scavenger that preys on small kangaroos and wallabies to possums, birds, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates.

    The original article contains 737 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • brave
    5·
    9 months ago

    How magical!!! Love that the farmer went out of his way to figure out what it was. Such an amazing recording… wonder how they how got there? Growing fat on his chooks though.