Spotted dasyurus (Dasyurus viverrinus) is found primarily in Tasmania, but it was also previously found in coastal New South Wales and coastal Victoria, and probably extending into coastal South Australia. This animal has a head and body length from about 12 to 15 inches. The color is brown or darker with small white spots. (In this species there are no spots on the tail.) The color depth can vary within a single litter.

The quoll genus (Dasyurus) is found in western Indonesia in Irian Jaya and in Papua New Guinea both on the island of New Guinea (2 species). There are representatives in Australia (4 species) . The total species count in the genus is 6. These are medium sized carnivores usually with white or pale spots. They can feed on birds, small mammals, and insects.

Dasyuridae family of Australia and New Guinea contains about seventy species of marsupial carnivores. These 70 species are spread among 20 genera. Most are small sized carnivores that feed on insects. However, the spotted tail quoll can reach over 3 feet in total length.

The Australian marsupial carnivore group (Dasyuromorphia, a new order)is found only in Australia. These animals have three pairs of lower incisors. This order contains the Dasyurids, the Tasmanian wolf, and the Tasmanian devil. There are 71 different species spread among 22 different genera. Most of these are small sized.

We have used Wilson and Reeder, Mammal Species of the World, Third Edition, as a guide.

Mammals (Class Mammalia), together with the birds, are among the youngest of the classes of animals. In species count, mammals number about fifty-one hundred, trailing reptiles (approximately fifty-five hundred), fish (approximately eighteen thousand), and birds (approximately eighty-six hundred).

There are three sub-types of mammals:

monotremes, the most primitive:
Develop in reptilian-like eggs and suckle milk emerging (i.e., spiny anteater, duckbilled platypus)
marsupials
Newborn emerges very underdeveloped and continue to mature in a pouch on its mother's abdomen (i.e., opossums, koala, kangaroo)
placental
Embryo develops within the uterus of the female and is dependent on a placenta for nutrition and waste removal (i.e., humans, lions, monkeys)

About sixty-five million years ago, the Tertiary era produced thirty-five orders of mammals. Of this number, eighteen have survived to represent Earth's most diversified as well as its most highly developed classification of animals.

Extinction of mammals is fast becoming a serious issue. Duff and Lawson present a list of forty-one extinct species that reached extinction prior to 1800. These forty-one species are not acknowledged in the counts of the various families. Duff and Lawson also present a list of forty-six species including three gazelles, one zebra, one seal, one deer, and one wolf that have probably gone extinct since 1800. These forty-six species are included in the family counts. Science is adding about forty to fifty new species a year to the list. Many of these are the result of divisions of prior species; some are recent discoveries.

Mammals owe their survival to adaptive capabilities that include the ability to exploit whatever sources of food are available to them, as well as their ability to adjust to various climes. Food specialization influenced evolution to such a great extent that the teeth structure can and has been used to provide extensive information on the food needs and various lifestyles of extinct species.

Despite the vast diversity among mammals in terms of size, habitats and adaptations, they share without exception many characteristics such as:

a. body hair
b. mammary glands
c. certain skull characteristics
d. four limbs that permit speed
e. parallel not perpendicular limbs
f. compartmentalized internal organs
g. a four-chambered heart and pulmonary circulation

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

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