Australia's endangered eastern quolls breed again after 60 years off mainland

The eastern quoll, a small nocturnal marsupial once common across eastern Australia, is showing signs of recovery after years of decline. Captive-bred eastern quolls released in Tasmania have successfully reproduced, with one female carrying six joeys in her pouch.Eastern quolls are considered extinct in the wild on mainland Australia. According to Mongabay, the species disappeared from the mainland by the 1960s after facing several threats, including habitat loss, disease, road accidents and predation by cats, dogs and invasive foxes.Wild eastern quoll populations still survive in Tasmania, where foxes are absent. However, researchers have also recorded a decline in the Tasmanian population. Conservationists are now using captive breeding and rewilding programmes to help strengthen these remaining populations and bring the species back to areas where it has disappeared.The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is a small carnivorous marsupial with a pointed, ferret-like face and a bushy tail.