Search Submit. Tasmanian Devils FAQs. The fur is mostly or wholly black, but white markings often occur on the rump flanks and chest. Adult males are larger than adult females. Large males weigh up to 14kg and stand about 30 cm high at the shoulder. A typical adult female would weigh 7 or 8 kg. Devils reach adult body size by two years of age. Imagine how European settlers first encountered the Tasmanian devil. The settler comes to investigate and sees dog-like black and white animals with red ears, wide jaws and big sharp teeth.
Both have an impressive screech!! Aboriginal people had several names for devils. Few mammalian predators have black and white patterns like devils. This black and white flash pattern seems to be an adaptation to break up the profile of the animal. In some respects, it is a form of camouflage, making it difficult for prey to distinguish the shape of the animal. The paradoxical question however is why then are 10 per cent of devils black with no white markings?
When they do this the white blaze on the chest is obvious, could this enhance the display objective? Similarly, when devils interact aggressively, the loser turns and runs making the rump display prominent. Very few wild devils live longer than 6 years. In captivity, they may live to years of age. In early the Save the Tasmanian Devil Team were excited to trap Boots, a devil they released at Narawntapu in Before his release Boots had lived in captivity for 4. Despite the decline in numbers since the detection of DFTD in the s, Tasmanian devils remain widespread across Tasmania from the intertidal zone to the sub-alpine areas.
They live in coastal heath, open dry sclerophyll forest and mixed sclerophyll-rainforest. Devils will live almost anywhere they can find shelter by day and find food at night. They also take advantage of roads and tracks and the interface between native habitat and agricultural paddocks, where their favourite prey species are often found. They shelter in rock piles, log piles, hollow logs, abandoned wombat burrows, thick clumps of vegetation and sometimes under buildings.
Tasmanian devils breed in dry caves, hollow logs and burrows, particularly wombat burrows. They prefer dry and warm sites and avoid exposed areas because while their young are small, they are vulnerable to other predators. Most Tasmanian devils mate between February and May and after a gestation period of around 21 days the young are born. Young stay in the pouch for about four and a half months. After this time the young start venturing out of the pouch and are then left in a lined den, often a hollow log.
