Quenda quest: volunteers take stock of Perth's 'lovely' backyard marsupials

For a week each spring about 140 people record every animal they spot to help researchers understand the health of a population threatened by cats and foxes

In backyards across the suburban fringe of Perth, people have been excitedly checking for cone-shaped divots in preparation for the annual spring quenda count, which is in its third year.

Quendas are a subspecies of the southern brown bandicoot, a small, ground-dwelling marsupial that has been hunted to critically low numbers by cats and foxes in south-eastern Australia.