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'Only hope we've got': the audacious plan to genetically engineer Australia's endangered northern quoll
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/11/only-hope-weve-got-the-audacious-plan-to-genetically-engineer-australias-endangered-northern-quollLike most Australian native species, the carnivorous northern quoll has evolved in a landscape absent of the bufotoxin. That is, until the cane toad was introduced in 1935 in a futile attempt by Queensland’s sugar cane industry to control bugs eating their crops.
Since then, the toads have spread across the northern parts of Australia. Prof John Woinarski, a leading conservation biologist at Charles Darwin University, says cane toads have – alongside feral cats and habitat clearing – been a major factor in pushing the northern quoll to endangered status.
“Quolls are very effective predators,” he says. “They’re the largest marsupial predator across much of the north of Australia.
“But when they try and kill a cane toad, they grab them by the back of the head just where the toxin glands are mostly concentrated. They die remarkably quickly and it’s an agonising death.”
Since then, the toads have spread across the northern parts of Australia. Prof John Woinarski, a leading conservation biologist at Charles Darwin University, says cane toads have – alongside feral cats and habitat clearing – been a major factor in pushing the northern quoll to endangered status.
“Quolls are very effective predators,” he says. “They’re the largest marsupial predator across much of the north of Australia.
“But when they try and kill a cane toad, they grab them by the back of the head just where the toxin glands are mostly concentrated. They die remarkably quickly and it’s an agonising death.”
Do it.