Australian Wildlife Experiences - The Tasmanian Devil
An option on our Royal National Park private day tour is a visit to Symbio Wildlife Park where visitors can see a number of unique Aussie animals.
One of our favourites is the Tasmanian Devil, one of Australia's most well known native animals.
It is a marsupial, which is basically a mammal whose young are incompletely developed at birth and typically carried in a pouch.
They are only found in the wild in Tasmania, becoming extinct on the mainland around 3000 years ago.
When you look at the Tasmanian Devil’s head and face there are no devilish horns and the standout features include a moist black nose, many whiskers, dark deep eyes, two fang teeth near the corners of the mouth and large flappy ears.
The devil’s body has an attractive colouring of black fur with a white band running across the chest.
Their front legs are larger than their back legs which helps with climbing.
This difference in the front and back leg sizes can result in devils looking like they are galloping or skipping when they run.
A keen sense of smell allows devils to find fresh carcasses at night and they may travel many kilometres seeking out the recently deceased.
A great Australian scavenger story!
Devils are inquisitive and may look you directly in the eye, or just stand and sniff the air.
Tasmanian Devils have extremely strong jaws allowing them to eat all parts of an animal – fur, muscles, organs and bones. Nothing gets wasted.
Their dietary requirements do not go beyond the living or recently living and include wombats, kangaroos, rabbits, possums, birds and even insects. Plants need not apply.
The animals ears are unusual being pink in colour that will turn to purple colour if the devil is agitated.
So why then are these creatures called devils at all?
The answer lies in the noises they usually make at night, being primarily nocturnal.
Devils will ferociously fight each other over food or finding and keeping a mate, making growling, blood curdling noises in the process.
This behaviour explains their naming as a devil, but I would suggest a very likeable one.
standing tall
Why does Sydney Nimble keep visiting me?
born to sniff at Symbio Wildlife Park
cute brute