Eastern quolls primarily eat insects, small mammals, birds, and reptiles. CREDIT: University of Sydney/Aussie Ark. Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 The University of Sydney and conservation organization Aussie Ark recently released 15 endangered eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus) into a controlled bushland environment. The medium-sized, bushy-tailed, white-spotted nocturnal marsupials were set off into a preserve on the Scots College’s Bannockburn property near Nowra on along the southern coast of New South Wales, Australia.   Jerrinja tribal leader Ron Carberry conducted a Welcome to Country as the animals examined their new home. A Welcome to Country is delivered by Traditional Owners or Indigenous peoples who have been given permission from Traditional Owners as a way to  welcome visitors to their Country. Carberry reflected on a time not so long ago when his ancestors roamed with this “magic little animal.” Carberry added: “What is happening today is a magnificent moment. It’s about healing Country.” The release marked a first step in rewilding a species that disappeared from Australia’s mainland more than 60 years ago. Today, eastern quolls are primarily found in the eastern part of the island of Tasmania, and in farmlands, open grasslands, dry forests, woodlands, coastal scrub, and alpine heathland. Quolls are “opportunistic hunters that take live prey such as insects, small mammals, birds and reptiles, and scavenge,” according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water.  Ron Carberry releasing an eastern quoll into the bushland. CREDIT: Aussie Ark They are considered extinct on the Australian mainland primarily due to disease, poisoning, and predation by foxes. Reintroduced populations like this one are being established at sites where introduced predators are managed. Aussie Ark has already established the 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary. Ten of the eastern quolls released at this new site at Bannockburn were born and bred at the sanctuary.  Thomas Newsome from the University of Sydney’s Global Ecology Lab said that the team will prioritize long-term scientific research to better understand how to successfully rewild the species. They plan on using very-high frequency (VHF) radio and global positioning system (GPS) tail transmitters, a camera observation network of 54 camera traps, and quarterly cage trapping to collect data and monitor the quolls.  “This long-term research project provides us with a wonderful opportunity not only to establish a meta-population of eastern quolls on mainland Australia but also deep-dive into the ecology of the species,” Newsome said in a statement. “We need to better understand the quolls’ role in an ecosystem from which it has been absent from for almost 70 years.” An eastern quoll. CREDIT: Aussie Ark. “The release is another powerful step toward one day rewilding the eastern quoll to the mainland of Australia,” Aussie Ark Operations Manager Dean Reid added. “It follows last year’s historic release of our Eastern Quolls into Booderee Botanical Gardens, when Federal Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek personally released one of our quolls.” The site will join the SE NSW Eastern Quoll Hub. This network of sanctuaries is participating in a genetic metapopulation management plan. The goal of this plan is to ensure the long-term genetic and demographic health of eastern quoll populations in areas where they are protected from predators.