Mystery solved

[Franco]

A couple of years ago camping along the Great Ocean Walk in the middle of the night I heard some loud rustling noises and then a very loud cat like sound, the type cats make when fighting.
However it was louder and deeper than that. (I remember thinking :that IS a big cat...)
I had a koala sleeping on a tree brunch a couple of meters above my tent and, as I was trying to work out what was happening outside ,the koala came down the tree and scrambled away.
So I went out of the tent to have a look. Nothing but yes the koala was gone.
(had been up there for hours)
This last Saturday reading the Age I found an article about the Tiger Quoll.
They are trying to find it here in Victoria, one of the spots where scat has been found was around the area I was camping in that night.
So I searched the net and turns out that the Tiger Quoll does indeed sound like that at times.
This has been a big relief for me because I had not been able to figure out that sound.

[Giddy_up]

I would say you have had a very rare and close encounter Franco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_quoll

It looks like a very small geographical range in that part of the world, but great to know there around.


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

[colinm]

This feller liked the smell of the steak we were frying next to the car, and he decided it was his (eminent domain, he was there first, I dunno):
https://picasaweb.google.com/1097286579 ... ingtonTops

He really took some dissuading, he was determined to walk up and take it off the fire.

He was about the size of a big cat, yeah (see the mazda 3 tyre for scale,) but looked more like a slightly more gracile tasmanian devil - they have a really triangular jaw. You could almost see him as a ground-dwelling bully-boy possum.

Was a great fun experience to meet him.

[wayno]

maybe the northern territory kitties have migrated

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/ ... ritory.htm

[Travis22]

Really awesome encounter Franco, shame you didnt spot him and get a happy snap.

Colinm, magnificent! Thanks for sharing it with us. Did he come back on any future nights etc?

Wayno, ive shot a couple of very large wild cats in the Oxley > Nyngan area of NSW albeit around 10years ago.

Travis.

[stepbystep]

Yeah that's very cool Franco. My Tiger Quoll encounter was kind of strange. I was driving on Scotts Peak Road early on a foggy morning near the start of the Mt Anne track. A quoll was standing in the middle of the road, I slowed down and it wouldn't move, so I came to a complete halt. It then stood on it's rear legs and sort of growled at the car. I was fumbling around for my camera and bumped the horn at which time off it went. It was quite happy to stand up to a large vehicle!!

I've had an Eastern Quoll literally walk over my feet at Pelion.

[Hallu]

YEah unfortunately without pictures it could have been a big cat. I've seen a lot of feral species along this coast : cats, foxes... As it looks pretty territorial maybe you could go back there a bunch of times until you get the picture ?

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

So the resident quoll at Junction Ck (pic below) was a tiger, as opposed to eastern quoll? Wonder if he/she survived the fire?
]

[Pteropus]

Nice one Franco. Poor quolls are struggling on the mainland with competition from cats, foxes and of course humans. The little eastern quolls have become extinct on the mainland and the spotted-tailed/tiger quolls could follow. Northern quolls are also threatened by cane toads, and there is some interesting work being done to attempt to condition them against the toxic toads. Most wildlife encounters are pretty special in my opinion, and in the future they may be reduced.

[Nuts]

At one stage the eastern quolls were a common fixture around Pelion, almost a pest if they were a bit more bold but yeah a new family each year. I guess the dark genotype was an indicator of the abundance and there always seemed to be a darkie amongst them. Didn't see them the last season I worked, maybe a cat got at them?

There was a really friendly spotted quoll at D'mans bay, seemed like the fire pit was part of his domain. They are a marvelous animal, any chance for further protection would surely be bonus...if indeed it would mean anything much in practice.

[Franco]

I saw a quoll (no idea what type...) just off the trail along Lake St Clair but I did not even know that there are quolls here in Victoria and that is why I could not think of what I heard.

[colinm]

Colinm, magnificent! Thanks for sharing it with us. Did he come back on any future nights etc?

I only saw him the first night, but it being a car park (Pol Blue) he's probably there a lot. They have over a 10 km^2 range, IIUC, so I'd guess he was habituated to coming in and snatching what he could get.

[stepbystep]

Not sure if this link will work. I worked on this package if the link doesn't work you'll find the vid on ABC Tas. Amazing the lengths different people with different motivation go to.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-1 ... he/4817736

[Franco]

Hi Stepbystep
The link does work. Interesting report.
Thank you very much for that.

[Snowzone]

Hi Franco, a pity you did not get a look at the quoll to be able to make a confirmed sighting. This is a link to a conservation project in the Otways.

http://www.capeotwaycentre.org/cocce_002.htm

It would be an incredible shame if these quolls become extinct.

[Franco]

This is the exact spot.

Cape Otway GOW camping ground.
The koala you see to the right of my Contrail (early afternoon) moved eventually to a spot just above my tent and that is where it was when he rushed down from it and went to another tree about 10 meters away (found him there in the morning)

When I heard the "scream" I was too stunned to do anything for maybe a minute or so. It actually came to my mind that I heard a jaguar or something like that so I was not sure at all of what was happening.
(no, I had nothing to drink the night before...)
Now I wish that I had moved a bit faster.
My impression at the time is that the quoll (or whatever...) was chasing a prey , hence the initial rustling noise, and then close to my tent there was a confrontation and that is when the koala was disturbed.
(my two mates were sound asleep)
I did then go around the campsite with my torch but of course I had no idea of what I was looking for.
Now I would know to look for unfamiliar scat for a start...

[stry]

Koalas can make some pretty blood curdling screams in their own right. Might you have simply heard a Koala ??

[Franco]

I don't think so. I have heard different koala sounds (including the mating calls...) and there was some commotion on the ground before the koala left the tree.
I am familiar with wombats noises too, males do make some amazing sounds.