How do Tasmanian devils teach their young?

Answer 1

Tasmanian devils are found only on the Australian island of Tasmania. The mother teaches her young by example, taking them with her on hunting expeditions. They often ride on her back for these outings. The father is not involved in the raising of the young.

Answer 2

The Tasmanian devil is a marsupial so, like most (not all) marsupials, it has a pouch to protect its joeys while they are developing. The young joeys are born extremely undeveloped and must compete for a teat in the pouch. Tasmanian devils can actually give birth to up to 20 joeys at a time, but having only four teats, this means most of the young die.

After spending several months in the pouch, the female then transfers the joeys to a den where they stay for another three to five months.

Answer 3

Tasmanian devils reproduce sexually. These marsupials mate continuously for up to five days; they actually copulate for 15 seconds then take a break of 20 minutes. Tasmanian devils reproduce just once a year. They tend to mate in March and give birth in April, but this time can extend over several months, with not all Tasmanian devils giving birth at the same time. The gestation period of the Tasmanian Devil is about 21 days.

The average number of Tasmanian Devil babies, or joeys, that a mother may be rearing at any one time is 2-3. A female Tasmanian devil actually may have several dozen tiny embryos in one birth - anywhere between 20 and 40 - but only four at most can latch onto a teat in the mother's pouch. The rest are lost as, once a joey is born, it must compete with the other joeys in the litter to determine which ones will enter into the backwards-opening pouch of the mother.

Those that survive are attached to the teat for about three months. At around 105 days old, they leave the pouch for the first time, and do not return. They stay in the den for about three more months, leave the den more and more often, and are independent at about seven or eight months old.

Answer 4

Tasmanian devils are marsupials, and the females have a pouch in which the young are carried for around 100 days, or just over three months. During this time, the baby, or joey, feeds entirely off mothers' milk. The pouch faces backwards, like that of the wombat, so it does not get filled with dirt while the animal is digging.

The Tasmanian devil joeys stay in the backward-facing pouch for around four months. The pouch faces backwards so that, when the mother digs, dirt does not get into the pouch. After four months, when they are fully furred, the joeys are transferred to a den. Within another three mobs or so, they start exploring outside. By the time they are forty weeks old, during January, the joeys are fully independent.

Answer 5

Since Tasmanian devils are marsupials, their young are born very undeveloped. They then make their way to the mother's pouch where they latch onto a teat. Competition for the teats is fierce. A female Tasmanian devil actually may have several dozen tiny embryos in one birth - anywhere between 20 and 40 - but only four at most can latch onto a teat in the mother's pouch. The rest are lost. The breeding season is March to April, so Tasmanian devils breed just once a year.

Answer 6

The Tasmanian devil is a marsupial so, like most marsupials, it has a pouch to protect its joeys while they are developing.