Underestimating the underdog: Camera trap observations of full-contact combat between quenda (Isoodon fusciventer) and black rats (Rattus rattus)

Urban environments offer a variety of habitats to Australian wildlife by providing shelter and food which is otherwise restricted in remnant small bushlands scattered throughout suburbs. The quenda (Isoodon fusciventer) is a native Western Australian small marsupial that has adapted successfully to life in urban gardens where it competes for food with the black rat (Rattus rattus), omnipresent in urban developments. We report here, for the first time, camera trap evidence of black rats actively attacking quendas in an urban backyard. These observations have implications for the preservation of quenda populations in urban gardens and remnant bushlands, supporting the need for black rat management as black rats could compromise the success of re-introductions or jeopardize the survival of small quenda populations in urban remnant bushlands.