SYDNEY (AFP) – Scientists are training an endangered furry marsupial – Australia’s beloved quoll – to avoid eating toxic toads that have devastated predator populations in a novel attempt to save the country’s native fauna.
Quolls, a carnivorous animal commonly known as the native cat, are under attack from the poisonous cane toad, an invasive species from Central and South America.
The toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 but are so poisonous they can kill predators that try to eat them.
Numbering more than 200 million, the invasive species continue to spread across northern Australia at estimated 40-60 kilometres (25-37 miles) a year, leaving a trail of catastrophic population declines in native predators.
Mammals keeper Kylie Hackshall gets close to a baby spotted-tail quoll at Wild Life Sydney. AFP
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