The REAL Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian devils are one of the most hated and feared animals in the world.  Although a lot of terrifying stories have been told about how devils chase and kill humans, they are not true.  These bumbling hunters look and sound a lot more fierce than they really are and the devils' bad reputation is largely undeserved.  Tasmanian Devils DO have bad tempers.  All Tassie devils are naturally ill-tempered and aggressive.  Some, like the cartoon Taz, fly into violent rages for no apparent reason.
 
 

Common Name: Tasmanian devil
No special names for males, females, or babies.
No special name for groups.

Scientific Name: Sarcophilus harrisii (sometimes listed as Sarcophilus ursinus)

Size:  Adult male: average height at shoulder 12 inches; average length of body, 2 feet plus a 1-foot tail.  Weight range: 12-25 pounds.  Adult females about 15 percent smaller than males.

Color:  Black, usually with white chest band and small white patches on the shoulders and above the tail.  Occasionally albino (solid white) or all black.

Behavior:  Nocturnal.  Solitary.  Savage.

Habitat/Range:  Tasmania (an island off the south coast of Australia).  Wide variety of habitats including forest, meadow, seashore, and around human settlements.

Food:  Primarily meat, including carrion.  Diet also includes insects, fruits, seeds, eggs, and garbage.

Life Span:  Six years in captivity.  Unknown in wild.

Gestation:  Three weeks.  Up to four young suckle in pouch for fifteen weeks, then live in nest and nurse another fifteen weeks.

Predators:  Humans.

Population:  Actual numbers unknown.  Common in some areas.

Tasmanian Devils are marsupials.  They have a pouch like kangaroos.  Marsupials have a single lower body opening, called a cloaca.  It is used for waste disposal, for mating, and as a birth canal.  All marsupials have a short gestation (time babies grow inside the mother's body) and give birth to tiny, partially formed young that finish developing outside the mother's body.

Devils and all the other carnivorous marsupials are experts at conserving energy.  Devils can, instantly and at will, cut their energy use in half.  To do it, they go into torpor, a state that is similar to hibernation.  Their body temperature drops from 100 degree F to 88 degree F, and their breathing rate and pulse are cut so drastically that devils in torpor lie in a death-like trance.  But unlike a hibernating animal, devils can zip between activity and torpor and back again in a matter of seconds.

Only one out of ten Tasmanian Devils will grow to adulthood.  Accidents and disease account for a few deaths, but the number-one killer of baby devils is other devils.  Unlike most animals, these mean little marsupials fight to the death with their own kind.  The winner then eats the loser.  Devils are cannibals!!!

When they leave the pouch, they are equipped with a full set of teeth.  These are not temporary "baby teeth," but the 42 slashing, grinding, crushing weapons of an adult devil.  The nestings have only a brief time to practice using these teeth.  When they've been out of the pouch just three months, the mother devil stops feeding and guarding her young.  Then they have to defend themselves, even against their own mother!!!  She becomes an enemy, attacking and killing her own babies.
 
 

"Tasmanian Devil on Location" published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, a division of William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New 
York, New York, 10019