TLC TV - Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

Posted by admin on March 29, 2011

Our first attempt at filming wildlife at Skullbone Plains has been a great success !

Watch the video to see what turned up on the first night of filming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kdugYF_Tpo

Dr Sally Bryant, Wildlife Ecologist and Reserves Manager at Tasmanian Land Conservancy, says this about the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) in her book: Animals of Tasmania - Wildlife of and Incredible Island (2009); Quintus Publishing.

Although the Tasmanian Devil is a carnivore and can easily kill prey many times its own size, its talent is more for finding than killing food.  Devils can travel up to 10km a night in search of carrion and with their acute sense of smell can locate a dead body up to 2km away.  With their powerful jaws and vice-like grip, they can devour any kind of carcass, eating everything, including fur, bone and guts…They are strongly built animals and adult males can weigh up to 13kg and females up to 9kg.  They are black in colour, many sporting an individual white blaze across the chest and with a scrawny tail with a wispy end.  While at times highly social, devils are more often solitary and territorial in nature and during the breeding season males will fight aggressively to defend their territories and to guard their female.  Females give birth to many young but can only accommodate and rear four pups in a year.  This reproductive trait supports survival of the fittest…Devils can live for five to six years in the wild but by then their coats have become shabby and worn and their faces are pitted and scarred from years of fighting.

Up until the 1990’s Tasmanian Devils were common and widespread, with a population estimated at about 150,000 (Nick Mooney pers. Comm.).  But then everything changed.  In 1996, devils were found with horrendous facial tumours, caused by a new type of infectious cancer…What triggered the cancer is unknown but the disease is now widespread and the devil population has plummeted.

The Tasmanian Devil has become a nationally endangered species and the world is learning of its plight.

You can help by donating to the Tasmanian Land Conservancy to protect 1600 hectares Devil habitat at Skullbone Plains!  Please donate at http://www.tasland.org.au/donations/