Tasmanian Devil

The largest living carnivorous marsupial, a stocky animal of roughly 5 to 12 kilograms that today lives free in the wild only in Tasmania, apart from small reintroduced groups. It trots many kilometres a night along regular paths, finding food by smell, and at a carcass can swallow a very large meal, by some accounts up to 40 per cent of its own weight.

• Tasmanian Devils are closely tied to Tasmanian forests, scrub, farms, and coastal edges.
• Their food is mainly carrion, small animals, birds, insects, and bones.
• Major pressures include eagles for young, dogs, vehicles, disease, and humans.
• Devils died out on mainland Australia about 3,000 years ago.
• Young devils climb trees well, but adults become too heavy to do so easily.

By day it lies up in a den, which may be an old wombat burrow, a hollow log, a cave or thick scrub. It emerges after sunset and is busiest in the hours after dusk and before dawn, though devils sometimes sun themselves in quiet places.

Habitat: Woodland, scrub, forest edge, and open country with shelter dens.

Native range: Tasmania, with conservation and reintroduction efforts in selected mainland sites.

They feed on carrion, small animals, birds, insects, and bones.

By day it lies up in a den, which may be an old wombat burrow, a hollow log, a cave or thick scrub. It emerges after sunset and is busiest in the hours after dusk and before dawn, though devils sometimes sun themselves in quiet places.

Up to about 5 or 6 years in the wild and 7 or 8 in captivity. Where facial tumour disease is present, few live beyond 3.

After a pregnancy of about three weeks the female gives birth to 20 or more young, each the size of a grain of rice. She has only four teats, so at most four survive. They leave the pouch at about four months and are independent at around nine.

Males are usually larger.

Rarity: Rare · 79/100. Disease has caused major declines, making wild Tasmanian devils more vulnerable than their tough image suggests.

• Keep distance and let the animal choose the space.
• Avoid blocking movement routes, nesting areas, or feeding behavior.
• Use optics, patience, and quiet observation instead of crowding for a closer view.