Tasmanian Devils

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous marsupial that is native to Tasmania, the island state of Australia located off the southeast coast of the continent. Fossil evidence incicates it was once found throughout the mainland of Australia. There are several theories as to its extinction from the mainland, but no definitive answer.

Tasmanian Devils live in Tasmania, the island state of Australia. Their habitat is coastal heath, open dry sclerophyll forest and mixed sclerophyll-rainforest.

There may be specimens in some zoos round the world but the animal originated in Tasmania and the Australian mainland. However, there are no longer any remaining on the mainland.

The Tasmanian devil is both a hunter and a scavenger. A nocturnal creature, it is equipped with both an acute sense of smell and keen night vision in order to detect carrion and prey. As a term it has incredibly strong jaws that can easily crush and kill.

The Tasmanian devil is predominantly black, with a white stripe across its chest.

Tasmanian devils only like water insofar as they can drink it.

A Tasmanian devil is not a rainforest animal in the conventional sense of the word. Tasmanian rainforests are cool-temperate rainforests, and while some Tasmanian devils occupy these cool rainforests, most of them are found in bushland (dry sclerophyll) and coastal heathlands.

The Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial mammal that is native to Tasmania. It was once widespread on the Australian mainland, but the arrival of the Dingo and possibly climate change at the end of the last ice age, may have contributed to its extinction on the mainland.

The Tasmanian devil is only found on Australia's island state of Tasmania. It has not been known on the Australian mainland at all during the time of European settlement.

Fossil evidence of the Tasmanian devil has not been able to yield any definite dates for when this animal disappeared from Australia's mainland. Estimates vary from 600 years ago to 3000 years ago.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: Dasyurinae
Tribe: Dasyurini
Genus: Sarcophilus
Species: S. harrisii

They are bad-tempered and cantankerous, they will bite anybody and anything that comes within range. It is not for nothing they are called 'Devils'

Tasmanian devils have a reputation for being "bad tempered and cantankerous", but this is not necessarily the case. In reality, they shun contact with other species.

Tasmanian devils bite each other when feeding. This is behaviour to assert their dominance. The males in particular will fight (and bite) during breeding season. Similarly, they will bite anything that they perceive as a predator, and this often includes humans who try to get too close.

The average life span of a Tasmanian devil is 6-8 years. They are more likely to live longer in captivity, as in the wild they are prone to being hit by cars. The Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) has also reduced the life expectancy of at least one third of wild Tasmanian devils.

A Tasmanian Devil will tackle anything up to wombat size to get a meal. Although they are perfectly capable of removing a finger with one bite, they would not hunt humans, or attack, other than in self defense.

The biggest threat to the Tasmanian Devil used to be the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, and this was only because the two species competed for food. However, since the extinction of the Thylacine, man has become a bigger predator than any other animal - man and his dogs. It is only in more recent years that the Tasmanian Devil has become protected.

The fox has reasonably recently been introduced to Tasmania, and it now poses a threat to the survival of younger Tasmanian devils as well.

An analysis of mammalian bite force relative to the body size shows that the Tasmanian Devil has the strongest bite of any living mammal (over 5,100 psi (35,000 kPa)).[8] [8] Wroe, S, McHenry, C, and Thomason, J. 2005. Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences272:619-625 PMID 15817436

Tasmanian devils are endemic to Australia. Ever since European settlement, they have only ever been found on Australia's island state of Tasmania, but fossil evidence indicates they were once found throughout the mainland.

The Tasmanian devil is a dasyurid, or carnivorous marsupial. It is a nocturnal hunter, seeking live prey which may include birds, insects and small mammals up to the size of wallabies. It also scavenges animal carcasses, particularly roadkill.

The Tasmanian devil is a solitary animal, hiding in thick scrub, caves or old wombat burrows during the day. It becomes aggressive when in competition for food.

They don't.

Tasmanian devils used to be found throughout the Australian mainland, as well as Tasmania and even New Guinea. It is thought that the arrival of the Dingo and possibly climate change at the end of the last ice age, may have contributed to its extinction on the Australian mainland. However, they have continued to exist on the island of Tasmania because Tasmania has retained the cool temperate climate thought to once be in Australia and New Guinea, and the dingo has never made it to the island.

The Tasmanian devil is important because it is a carrion-eater. This means it feeds on carcasses of dead animals, which helps keep its environment clean and free of diseases which might develop from animal bodies lying in the sun.

There are no truly close relatives of the Tasmanian devil. The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial, or dasyurid, so its closest relatives are the other dasyurids, such as the quoll, while more distant relatives are the numbat and the now-extinct Thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.

Quite high. Logging is one of Tasmania's main industries, and where there is logging, there is, by default, loss of habitat. While greater areas of Tasmania are being protected by law, the regions currently unprotected mean that the Tasmanian devil's environment will continue to suffer damage. Also, given Australia's high bushfire rating, even protected areas suffer from major damage through bushfires.

One cannot compare whether or not a particular animal species is "better" than another. Both of these native Australian marsupials are completely unique and suited to a particular niche.

While the Tasmanian devil is Australia's largest remaining dasyurid, or carnivorous marsupial, the mountain Pygmy possum is the only Australian marsupial that hibernates.