Outfoxed: How well do you know your native animals? Australians’ questionable quoll knowledge exposed

Outfoxed: How well do you know your native animals? Australians’ questionable quoll knowledge exposed | Wildlife | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Close dialogue 1 / 1 Next image Previous image Toggle caption Print subscriptions Newsletters Sign in US US edition UK edition Australia edition Europe edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home The Guardian News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show more Hide expanded menu News View all News US news US politics Midterms 2026 World news Climate crisis Middle East Ukraine US immigration Soccer Business Environment Tech Science Newsletters The Filter Wellness Opinion View all Opinion The Guardian view Columnists Letters Opinion videos Cartoons Sport View all Sport Soccer NFL Tennis MLB MLS NBA WNBA NHL F1 Golf Culture View all Culture Film Books Music Art & design TV & radio Stage Classical Games Design a better world Lifestyle View all Lifestyle The Filter Wellness Fashion Food Recipes Love & sex Home & garden Health & fitness Family Travel Money Search input google-search Search Support us Print subscriptions Newsletters Download the app Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Wordiply Corrections Tips Search input google-search Search Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us Environment Climate crisis Wildlife Energy Pollution Green light An eastern quoll. The animals were once found in Melbourne and Sydney as late as the 1960s. Photograph: Aussie Ark View image in fullscreen An eastern quoll. The animals were once found in Melbourne and Sydney as late as the 1960s. Photograph: Aussie Ark Australian climate and environmental reporting Wildlife Outfoxed: How well do you know your native animals? Australians’ questionable quoll knowledge exposed About one in six NSW, QLD and Vic residents think foxes are native animals and a third believe quolls are introduced, survey shows Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Supported by About this content Petra Stock Sun 20 Sep 2026 02.49 EDT Last modified on Sun 20 Sep 2026 02.51 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google Most people identify wombats and kangaroos as Australian animals, but one in six people surveyed in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria think red foxes are native wildlife . The polling commissioned by the Invasive Species Council also revealed that one in three Australians on the east coast did not know that quolls were native. More than 95% said kangaroos and wombats were native animals, according to the survey of 5,000 people by DemosAU, which listed animals and asked people to say if they were native or not, but showed recognition of other species like quolls and bandicoots was much lower. One in five thought cane toads were native. These amphibians hailed from Central and South America and were introduced in 1935 in a failed bid to control cane beetles, with disastrous results for native species. About 10% considered cats wildlife. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “It’s wild,” the conservation group’s rewilding manager, Rob Brewster, said. Foxes and cats were among the country’s most destructive introduced mammals, while the quoll – a unique native predator – was arguably one of its most beautiful, he said. Brewster said quolls had loads of personality and character, and were once found in the heart of Sydney and Melbourne, right up until the 1950s and 60s. “There’s so few left, that there’s very little chance of having a meaningful interaction with a quoll these days.” The Invasive Species Council said the findings revealed the growing disconnect between Australians and wildlife, as local species declined while introduced animals – like cats, foxes and rabbits – became an increasingly familiar sight. “That is how extinction can begin long before the last animal dies,” Brewster said. “A species disappears from your back yard, then your neighbourhood, then your region. A generation grows up without seeing it, and eventually its absence starts to feel normal. 0:40 Quoll and possum species brought back from local extinction in the Ikara-Flinders ranges – video “The less Australians encounter an animal, whether that be a quoll, bandicoot or bettong, the quicker they fade from public knowledge and eventually generations will not recognise them all – unless we do something about it.” Associate prof Diana Fisher, an ecologist at the University of Queensland, said quolls were intelligent and voracious predators. But apart from in the bush or at the zoo, most people were unlikely to encounter them because they were nocturnal and avoided houses and built up areas. skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | When needed Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion “People love predators, and thin