Sydney’s Corner: The Tasmanian Devil

You have probably seen the cartoon with the Tasmanian devil. But have you seen a real Tasmanian devil? I have and this is what this blog is going to be about. We saw a Tasmanian devil at Ballarat Wildlife Park. You should see them eat. They fight like little devils and scream a lot.

Here are some facts about Tasmanian devils. They are found in Tasmania. Tasmania is a large island below Australia.  Tasmanian devils used to live on the mainland of Australia, but scientist believe that dingoes ate them all. Tasmanian devils are nocturnal. That means they sleep during the day and are wake at night. Tasmanian devils are scavengers that means they eat what other animals have killed and left.

Do you know how they got their name? Well they are little devils from Tasmania. They actually got their name from the settlers in Tasmania. At night the settlers heard the screaming coming from the devils, because the devils were fighting over food. When they went out there to investigate they only saw eyes! They thought that it was the Devil or Satan.

Devils are endangered because of a cancer called the devil facial tumor disease. Devils fight and bite each other a lot especially when there is food around. When a devil bites, it can draw blood. From getting bitten the devil gets the disease from the other unhealthy devil. The devil will get lumps on it mouth and will die. But if it survives the cancer, it dies of starvation because the lumps get too big for the devil to eat. Scientist are trying to figure out a cure. They are also trying to breed healthy devils in captivity. They are trying to breed the Tasmanian devils at Ballarat Wildlife Park.

Facts about devils you may not know

•  Baby devils are called imps or joeys.
• A female devil can produce 30 to 40 babies. But only four will survive, because there are only 4 teats.
• A Tasmanian devil’s pouch faces backwards.
• The young devils stay with their mom for 8 months
• Devils are the biggest marsupial that eat meat
• Devils will sometimes eat their young.
• Young devils are better at climbing than grownups.