What is a tiger quolls scientific name?

Answer 1

Dasyurus maculatus is the tiger or spotted tailed quoll's scientific name. The full categorization is Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Dasyuromorphia, Family: Dasyuridae, Genus: Dasyurus, and Species: maculatus. It was first described in 1792 by Robert Kerr, a Scottish writer and naturalist, who placed it in the genus Didelphis, which includes several species of American opossum. Later, the spotted tailed quoll or the tiger quoll was placed in the family Dasyurus, which includes most carnivorous marsupial mammals including 6 other quolls. The species name, maculatus, indicates that this species is spotted. Some characteristics used to classify them are that they are warm blooded, have lungs, fertilization is internal and the embryo also develops internally, and they have four limbs, and four heart chambers.

The spotted tailed quoll comes from Australia and used to live in southern Queensland through coastal New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania. It is now an endangered species and spotted tailed quolls mostly live in national parks and other confined areas. They are nocturnal and prefer a forest habitat, living in borrows, hollow logs, holes in trees, and rock crevices. Spotted tailed quolls are carnivorous and eat rats, birds, frogs, possums, reptiles, insects, rabbits, mice etc. They kill their prey by biting it behind the head or knocking them off a tree branch and killing them in mid air or right after they hit the ground. Sometimes they eat dead animals and are often seen scavenging at picnic spots, camping grounds, and farms where they attack chickens. If necessary they are known to kill small wallabies and large birds. Tiger quolls are the top predators and scavengers in the mainland Australia. There are six kinds of quolls and spotted tailed or tiger quolls are the largest and most dangerous. Spotted tailed quolls breed in May- June. When they are born they are ¼ of an inch, then when they are four weeks they are 1 ½ inches. At eighteen weeks they become independent.

Some adaptations that help the spotted tailed quoll are: powerful jaws which are strong enough to crush bones of their prey. They are able to eat half their own body weight in one meal in so they don't need to hunt as frequently and in case of a food shortage. They have irregular white spots on their back and long tail; their spotted fur enables them to camouflage in trees or on the ground at night, because it looks like spots of moon light on the ground or on bark. Being a marsupial, the young are raised in a pouch for protection. The quoll's leg structure and strong, sharp claws enable it to be a strong and agile climber. Quolls have up to 16 young that may be born at one time - but the average number is 5. Larger numbers help ensure numbers remain reasonably populated. Spotted tailed quolls feet have transversely striated pads, which is an adaptation for grip because part of their life is spent in the trees. The quoll's tail is 20 - 35 cm long. Although their tails are long, quoll tails are not prehensile tails, the tails are used for balance only. The quoll is quite agile and tree climbing is a way for them to escape predators like eagles. Spotted tailed quolls have 5 toes on the back feet but are the only quolls that have a very small, clawless first toe and 4 large toes with long claws on its front feet.

Spotted tailed quolls are an endangered species because people are cutting down the forests where they live. As the mainland's largest carnivorous marsupial, the tiger quoll has no natural predators, but introduced species such as foxes and wild dogs do pose a threat. Their natural predators are mostly wedge-tailed eagles, pythons, large forest owls and goannas. Dingoes' territory rarely overlaps quoll territory but when it does the dingo will prey on the quolls. It has little human interaction, and it is of little value to humans.