Quolls in GURPS

Quolls are cat-like, civet-like, or weasel-like dasyurids with a red coat spotted with an irregular pattern of large white dots. They have long, flexible, muscular bodies and quick and agile motions. They are often called native cats, presumably because of their size, build, agility, and predatory nature, although the only relation they have with cats is the fact that both are mammals.

Quolls are nocturnal, and mostly solitary. They spend most of their time on the ground, but are capable tree climbers who hunt much of their prey in the trees. During the day, they den in burrows in the ground, hollow logs, hollows in trees, or rock piles.

Hunting quolls stalk their prey, then pounce on it and kill it with a bite to the skull or the back of the neck. They are primarily carnivorous but will occasionally eat fruit. The larger quolls may take medium sized mammals including large possums, wallabies, and, in recent times, rabbits, while smaller quolls eat small prey animals such as lizards and insects. Quolls are also scavengers, and will break into human garbage containers to feed.

• The tiger quoll Dasyurus maculatus, also known as the spotted quoll, is the largest quoll, and the longest and second largest extant marsupial predator. They are found in eastern Australia and Tasmania in many habitats, but are most common in wet forests. It typically lairs in rock dens, often in rocky outcrops, caves, or crevices.
• Northern quolls Dasyurus hallucatus are the smallest quolls. They are found in northern Australia in rocky areas and open eucalypt forests. Males live only one year, then they enter a breeding frenzy, mate, and die. Females can live for up to three years.
• Eastern quolls Dasyurus viverrinus were once found in southeastern Australia, but today are only found on offshore islands, including Tasmania where they are still common. This species lives in a wide variety of habitats, from forest to grassland and wet scrub. Females give birth to 30 young at a time but have only 6 teats, so only the 6 strongest survive.
• Western quolls Dasyurus geoffroii, or chuditch, were once found across most of inland Australia, but today are only found in the extreme south-west. It was known to have lived in a wide variety of habitats from desert to forests and shrubland. They get most of their water from their diet so they rarely need to drink.
• The New Guinea quoll Dasyurus albopunctatus is, as one might guess, native to the island of New Guinea.

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