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Field Survey at Mt Barney on the 15-16th. Details to follow
Springbrook Survey - lots of walking and stopping. Funny how the trip back up the mountain was 4km longer than the trip down. Anyhow we laid out some 35 hair funnels. Results pending. Certainly a positive result would be a real treat in this area as there have been no confirmed sightings for a few years.
Field Weekend at Springbrook
Training Day Details
Thanks to special permission granted by from the **** Regiment Canungra, QSN spent two great days surveying an area rarely visited by the public and fauna surveys. Results pending analysis
Results pending analysis
The middle of winter is not really the best time to be camping in Girraween, but it is one of the best times to look for quolls. So several intrepid field assistants came along to lay soil plots and hair funnel traps. We found evidence of quoll activity in the area. We already knew they were there from several sightings by visitors and the Rangers, but this field trip was meant as a test of the effectiveness of our techniques.
There is some anecdotal evidence from Lamington NP that Spotted-tailed quolls have finally learned to cope with the cane toad menace. It seems that the quolls have learned to turn the toads inside out by holding down their upper jaw and lifting the lower jaw to open them up in order to reach the non-toxic internal organs.
A recent study in northern NSW found that Spotted-tailed quolls were unlikely to take 1080 fox baits. The baits are usually used to poison wild dogs and foxes but there has been much contention in recent years on their effect on native wildlife. The study followed 56 radio collared quolls in an area that was subsequently baited. Although the quolls did interact with the baits (moving them and/or burying them) none of the baits were consumed to the best of the researchers knowledge. But the most interesting thing was that all of the quolls survived the baiting program. None of the radio tracked quolls succumbed to the baiting program. While this is promising, more work needs to be carried out. Gerhard K & Gresser S (2002)
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