The Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is a marsupial. This means it carries its baby in a pouch. They are the largest carnivorous marsupials. They are nocturnal, meaning active at night and prefer to live alone. The Tasmanian Devil is a shy animal that lives in Australia.

They are usually black with a white patch around the neck. They weigh between 6and 8 kgs and have a tail around 9 to 12 inches long. They are around the size of a terrier dog. Their heads are extremely large and powerful with a wide jaw. They have sharp teeth and pointy pink ears that turn red when they are angry. They have piercing dark eyes that helps them to move around at night.

The Tasmanian Devil can now only be found on the island of Tasmania. They live in coastal scrub and eucalypt forests. These animal are found near human settlements. During the day they stay out of sight. They sleep in dens that are lined with grass and leaves. The dens are usually hollow logs, old wombat burrows, or small natural caves. They can even lower their body temperatures to match their surroundings.

By nature, Tasmanian Devils are not aggressive. When it comes to food, that behavior changes. They are very protective of their food or their kill. It would even kill or attack another Devil to protect it food. These fights cause a lot of Devils to have bald patches of fur.

Tasmanian Devils tend to eat dead animals, or anything lying around no matter how rotten. They have powerful jaws that help crush bones.This helps them to eat whole carcass meat, fur, and bones. It leaves nothing to pollute the environment. They kill prey such as snakes, birds, rodents, lizards, and small wallabies, as well as lambs. They kill by using a strong bite in the back of the preys neck or its back.

These devils are very loud. More so, when there are a lot feeding at a carcass. They try to scare each other off. This is what gives them their devil name along with their looks. They breed at the male den when the female visits for around two weeks or so. Their babies are born blind and deaf.

They are almost the size of a grain of rice when born. They birth up to 50 young. The young race about 3 inches from the birth canal to the mother's pouch. They attach themselves to one of four teats where they will suckle. The nipples will swell to form an airtight connection. The young will remain attached for about 3 months, once they leave the pouch, the mother leaves to hunt for food. Around 6 months old, they become independent of the mother. Most of them don't reach adulthood. They are attacked by adult Devils. If survived, their lifespan is about 8 years.

Tasmanian Devils are injured by cars on roads that have dead animals that they feed upon. They are losing their habitat due to humans taking over their environments. Disease is also killing off these animals.

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil