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Eastern Quoll – Is It a Cat or a Mouse? – Find Out Here

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eastern quoll

“A Cat or a mouse?” – The visitors at the Linton Zoo have the privilege to see an extinct species called eastern quoll, one very strange animal that looks like a cat and a mouse at the same time.

However, it is neither of that. It is called an Eastern Quoll, also known as an Eastern cat. Even though they were thought to be extinct in the 1960s, recently in 2016 these animals have been reintroduced into sanctuaries. These animals are about the size of a domestic cat and weigh about 1.1kg (2.4lb) on average.

eastern quoll

The female eastern quolls are much smaller than the male ones and weigh around 0.7kg or 1.5lb on average. Speaking of their looks, they have a tapering snout, short legs, and have only four toes. These cat-like animals can either be near black or light fawn.

This is a carnivorous marsupial from Tasmania and is related to the Tasmanian devil. The Eastern quoll makes sounds similar to a ferret and this is actually its scientific name Dassyurus viverrinus which means “ferret-like”.

eastern quoll

This species is considered to be extinct in mainland Australia, however, there is an effort nowadays to reintroduce them back to some of their original range.

At the moment, there are three Eastern cats in the Linton Zoo that are actually brought from Germany. The Leipzig Zoo in Germany has started a European breeding program which would help in preserving the Eastern quoll. Hopefully, this will help this species from becoming extinct.

Check out the video from the Linton Zoo and see how these animals act.

https://www.facebook.com/143911748952844/videos/1653551234655547/

Would you like to see this animal in person? It really looks very interesting. Catman loves all animals and is always interested in finding out more about any unusual species. If you have a story to tell us – share it here.

Source: Linton Zoo

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