As a threatened species, every member of the ACT's eastern quoll population is valuable.
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But after seeing quolls reintroduced to their natural habitat picked off by feral predators, researchers have worked on a way to ensure they have a higher survival rate: not allowing males to be reintroduced.
A project led by researchers at the Australian National University has found reintroducing only expectant mothers back into the wild at Mulligan's Flat in Canberra's north gave the quolls an 88 per cent survival rate.
That's compared to a 29 per cent survival rate when males and females were brought back into the habitat together.
Researcher and PhD candidate Belinda Wilson said although the quolls were released into a wildlife sanctuary at Mulligans Flat, the males had an unfortunate habit of escaping.
"In our first release in 2016, what we tried to do was bring in males and females during the breeding period," Ms Wilson said.
"They were coming into breeding hormones which meant the males were chasing the females and in the end that resulted in a lot of travelling around the reserve and the males dispersed over the fence and into the jaws of foxes."
Of the 29 per cent that survived that first reintroduction, a majority of them were the females.
That led to researchers changing the strategy for the quolls' reintroduction, only bringing in females in the post-breeding period.
Subsequent reintroductions using that method led to a 77 per cent survival rate, rising to 88 per cent the following year.
"We brought the quolls in when they had pouch young, and they can hold up to six in their pouch at once," Ms Wilson said.
"We figured it would help them, as mothers are anchored to the site and looking for a den.
"To our knowledge, we're the first to have trialed and proven this tactic and it could be useful for the species and for other endangered species as well."
Eastern quolls were once widespread across most of south-eastern Australia, but became extinct on the mainland in 1967 due to introduced predators like foxes and cats, as well as disease.
However, there is a small population of the species in Tasmania.
The quolls released into Mulligans Flat were the first to be reintroduced into the ACT, and will live alongside other endangered species in the woodland sanctuary such as the eastern bettong.
While only females have been reintroduced in recent releases, Ms Wilson said males would be part of the ecosystem, due to them being among the young being carried in the mother's pouch.
It's hoped the research will allow numbers of the species to be boosted in years to come.
"They've been doing well, and we're thinking we have in the range of up to 80 quolls in Mulligans Flat," Ms Wilson said.
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"This is a really exciting result and gives us the courage to expect that eastern quolls will make a comeback to the ACT and beyond."
A further release of quolls into the wild will take place in October.
The research project is a collaboration between the university, the ACT government and the ACT Woodlands and Wetlands Trust.
The findings have been published in Plos One.