What is some information on the Tasmanian devil?

Answer 1

• The Tasmanian devil used to be found throughout Australia, but it is believed that the introduction of the dingo led to too much competition for food, and the Tasmanian devil died out on the mainland.
• The Tasmanian devil is the largest living marsupial carnivore, or dasyurid.
• A Tasmanian devil has excellent senses. It will use its great sense of smell to locate carrion during the day, but especially at night.
• The Tasmanian devil gives birth to between 20 and 40 joeys in one birth, but as the female has only four teats, competition for these teats is fierce and most of the joeys die.
• The Tasmanian devil is nocturnal, and an animal that prefers dense bushland shelter. Its black coat with white stripe provides excellent camouflage in both the night, and in dense bushland and undergrowth.
• Tasmanian devils can also emit a pungent odor as a defence mechanism when threatened.
• It has a frightening devil-like shriek, enough to scare away a curious predator, even though this noise is usually emitted during territorial fights, rather than as a defence.
• The Tasmanian devil is a scavenger, eating dead animals already killed by other animals, and on roadkill. There no dingoes on the island of Tasmania, so the Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial on Tasmania. Devils also hunt live prey.
• The biggest threat to the Tasmanian devil is the Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). This is a fatal condition which causes cancers around the face and head of Tasmanian Devils. It first appears as small lesions and lumps around the animal's mouth which grow quite quickly, inhibiting the Devil's ability to feed. They slowly starve to death, whilst their their bodily functions gradually break down. It spreads from animal to animal through them biting each other, and given that this is natural behaviour for Devils, it means that the disease can quickly spread through a population.