Chuditch use a wide variety of habitats including woodland associations, dry sclerophyll forests, beaches and deserts (Burbidge et al. 1988, Serena et al. 1991, Orell and Morris 1994). In the Jarrah forest, Chuditch populations occur in both moist, densely vegetated, steeply sloping forest and drier, open, gently sloping forest. Riparian vegetation appears to support higher densities of Chuditch, possibly because the food supply is better or more reliable, and better cover offered by dense undergrowth may reduce vulnerability to predators. Chuditch also appear to utilise native vegetation along road reserves in the wheatbelt.

Chuditch are nocturnal and generally solitary and can move several kilometres in one night. Serena and Soderquist (1989) estimated the home range in jarrah forest to be 337 ha, with a core area of 90 ha. In more arid habitats larger home ranges are apparently required (Rayner et al. 2011). Within the core area up to 180 den sites, located in hollow logs, tree limbs, rock outcrops and burrows, were utilised. At Ikara home ranges were 245 ha for females and 2,778 ha for males (Moseby et al. 2021).

In the arid zone, Chuditch are known to have denned in termitaria and holes in the ground, including warrens constructed by Boodie Bettongia lesueur (Johnson and Roff 1982, Burbidge et al. 1988). At Kalbarri National Park, Chuditch are at greatest density in the gorges along the Murchison River. Chuditch reintroduced to arid South Australia (<,150 mm average rainfall) were recorded favouring the burrows of bilbies and bettongs in dune habitats and travelling over 3-17 km² per night.

The Chuditch is a generalist predator and an opportunistic hunter, eating small mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates and some plant matter. Large invertebrates comprise two-thirds of their diet. They will scavenge carrion and rubbish and prey on chickens (Soderquist and Serena 1994, Stepkovich et al. 2023). At the Arid Recovery translocation site they were recorded killing Boodies Bettongia lesueur, Shark Bay Bandicoots Perameles bougainville and Greater Stick-nest Rats Leporillus conditor (Stepkovich et al. 2023).

The enormous decline in range of the Chuditch since European settlement has been attributed mainly to predation by the European Red Fox. However, in many areas, Chuditch abundance and distribution declined before the arrival of the fox with the pattern of pre-fox decline being consistent across multiple geographic regions, albeit poorly documented. The apparently rapid collapse of populations may have been due to multiple factors such as predation by an expanding feral Cat population, widespread use of strychnine baits to control Dingoes, an undocumented disease, habitat modification by livestock or changed fire regimes. Foxes arrived in the south west of Western Australia in the late 1920s. Before widespread fox control, using dried meat baits with 1080, was implemented in conservation lands in the south west, research demonstrated that baiting did not affect adult Chuditch and that following fox baiting, Chuditch numbers increased. At Batalling (Muja State Forest), Chuditch trap success increased after fox baiting from c. 0.5% in December 1990 to 13% in July 1995 and was then maintained at 4-6% until 1998 (Morris et al. 2003). From 1999 onwards captures declined rapidly and remained below 1% until 2021. Capture rates in 2023 were at 3.8%. Increased predator management within the Muja State Forest site commencing in 2020 has likely supported improved recruitment (M. Drew pers. comm. 2024).

The Chuditch occurs in several national parks, however, much of its range is within State forest, where logging was phased out in January 2024. Thinning and wood collecting continues to occur in state forest with an unknown impact on Chuditch. Morris et al. (2003) studied the impact of timber harvesting at Kingston. Despite confounding data due to increasing numbers of Woylies Bettongia penicillata captured in traps set for Chuditch following fox control, they concluded that logging had little or no effect on Chuditch abundance. The jarrah forest is also subject to rotational prescribed burning and monitoring has shown little impact on Chuditch (Morris et al. 2003), although prescribed burning practices (increased size and frequency) have changed since that study.

The Chuditch was formerly distributed over nearly 70% of the Australian continent, occurring in every mainland State and Territory. It was relatively abundant over this large range at the time of European settlement (Collett 1887, cited in Serena et al. 1991, Whittell 1954, Johnson and Roff 1982, Burbidge et al. 1988). However, a drastic decline and contraction of range has occurred since. Specimens were last collected in New South Wales in 1841, Victoria in 1857 and in Queensland between 1884 and 1907. Chuditch were last reported in the arid zone in the mid-1950s (Finlayson 1961), western desert Aboriginal oral history reported that it survived until about 1950 (Johnson and Roff 1982, Burbidge et al. 1988). In Western Australia, the species was still abundant in the south-west in 1907, but had disappeared from coastal areas north of Geraldton by this time (Shortridge 1909). Chuditch occurred on the Swan Coastal Plain until the 1930s (Serena et al. 1991, Orell and Morris 1994).

Burbidge et al. (2009), using modern, historical and subfossil data, found that the Chuditch occurred in 38 of Australia’s 85 bioregions and that it was extinct in 31 and declined or seriously declined in seven.

The Chuditch became restricted to the south west of Western Australia, particularly the jarrah forest and nearby areas, however, small, isolated subpopulations persist in the Avon wheatbelt, parts of the Great Western Woodlands and mallee (Dunlop and Morris 2012), and in and near the Fitzgerald River National Park and Ravensthorpe Range (Sanders et al. 2012). There have been recent records on the Swan Coastal Plan near Baldivis and Yalgorup National Park. It was successfully reintroduced to Julimar Conservation Park in 1992, Lake Magenta Nature Reserve in 1996, Kalbarri National Park in 2000 (Johnson and Orell 2006), and Mt Lindesay National Park, with 63 individuals released there between March 1999 and January 2000. There have been unsuccessful translocations to Cape Arid National Park on the south coast of Western Australia and to François Peron National Park, Shark Bay.

Chuditch were reintroduced to South Australia at Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park in 2014 and Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park in 2022. By 2024, Chuditch had been reintroduced to three introduced predator-free fenced mainland islands (exclosures) (Arid Recovery in South Australia, Mt Gibson Sanctuary in Western Australia in 2023-24 and Wild Deserts in New South Wales in 2023), with more fenced sites proposed for reintroduction.

There is a proposal to reintroduce Chuditch to Dirk Hartog Island, Shark Bay (Algar et al. 2020).

A large Dasyurus reported by local Aboriginal people in the north Kimberley (Manglamarra et al. 1991, Karadada et al. 2011) known to Wunambal speakers as Daada, may be this species.

Recovery was initially guided by Serena et al. (1991). This was superseded by Orell and Morris (1994), and Dunlop and Morris 2012), with the following recovery actions, most of which have been implemented at least partly:

• Retain and improve habitat critical for survival
• Determine impacts of feral Cats on Chuditch
• Determine the impact of feral cat control methods on Chuditch
• Continue, expand and improve baiting foxes and feral cats
• Determine population abundance and distribution of Chuditch populations
• Establish reference sites for monitoring Chuditch population abundance to evaluate the effectiveness of fox and cat control
• Undertake and monitor translocations to increase the extent of occurrence
• Increase public awareness through community education and enforcement of regulations
• Coordinate recovery implementation

Reference sites were established in 2021 and a captive breeding program was established in 2022 to provide animals for additional translocations. The Chuditch is listed as Vulnerable under Australian and Western Australian environmental legislation.