# Tasmanian Devils



## Terrier (Jul 20, 2017)

I am lucky enough to be involved on a voluntary basis in the "Save the Devil" Program. This 100% volunteer funded project has been put together to maintain a genetically diverse captive breeding program due to the prevalence of "Devil Facial Tumour Disease". Without going to much into it, it is the only known form of contagious cancer, is usually fatal and is confined to Tas Devils. The people I work with currently have two females and are programmed to get a (hopefully fertile) male in the next week or so.






This is Chime and Miranda, despite their fearsome reputation and immensely powerful jaws the girls are mainly shy and nocturnal.



They can also be a bit nosy at times, Miranda regularly climbs to the highest point of her enclosure and watches the world go by.




They really are amazing little creatures, but the noises they make when feeding can only be described as the stuff nightmares are made of, it is of little wonder, the early settlers, seeing fleeting shadows in the bush and hearing these guttural and often ear piercing growls and screams, named them "Devils".









Cheers all.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Jul 20, 2017)

Definitely a subject rarely seen by me on this forum. Thank you for sharing them.


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## Terrier (Jul 30, 2017)

The weather the last few days has been rather cold and wet, today wasn't much different but with longer sunny breaks between showers. This seemed to give Miranda a new burst of energy, she was tearing from pen to pen, up and down the mounds, pausing to peer at me over the fence for about an hour. Maybe someone has let on to her that a 'boy' Devil will be coming to stay in about two weeks time.


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## smoke665 (Jul 30, 2017)

I've had several "run ins" with bobcats, on the trails after dark,. Their screams are bad enough, don't think I'd like to meet one of these. Thanks for sharing, interesting creatures.


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## jcdeboever (Jul 30, 2017)

Cool pics.


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## tirediron (Jul 30, 2017)

Neat!  How big are they?


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## Terrier (Jul 30, 2017)

About the size of a Corgi dog, the girls weigh in at about 8 kilos, the male 12. But they have a bite force 4x that of a dog.


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## tirediron (Jul 30, 2017)

Terrier said:


> About the size of a Corgi dog, the girls weigh in at about 8 kilos, the male 12. But they have a bite force 4x that of a dog.


Huh.. didn't realize they were that large.


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## Terrier (Jul 30, 2017)

We very seldom have to pick one up  (only to put them in travel boxes for vet checks) but it is done very carefully. There is only one "safe" way of doing so (although I wouldn't try it with a 100% wild Devil) for both Devil and handler, that is maintain a firm grasp at the base of the tail and then support under the front legs with a forearm, keeping fingers well clear of the jaws, and whatever happens do not loosen the tail grip or they tend to go "ballistic" and start thrashing about a bit..





Note they have five 'fingers' on the front paws and only have 4 toes on the rears.


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## smoke665 (Jul 30, 2017)

Terrier said:


> We very seldom have to pick one up (only to put them in travel boxes for vet checks) but it is done very carefully. There is only one "safe" way of doing so (



Bite Force = 4x stronger then a dog. Think I'll relate "safe" to leave them alone!!!!


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## snowbear (Jul 30, 2017)

smoke665 said:


> Terrier said:
> 
> 
> > We very seldom have to pick one up (only to put them in travel boxes for vet checks) but it is done very carefully. There is only one "safe" way of doing so (
> ...


Agreed.  But they are cute buggers.


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## baturn (Jul 30, 2017)

Thanks for the photos and info. Very interesting . Good luck with your project.


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## benhasajeep (Jul 30, 2017)

So, that's why Taz on Looney Toons sounded that way.  

It's really good of you to volunteer your time to help them.


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## Terrier (Nov 3, 2017)

Just an update and to introduce you to "Lucky" our 'new' male Devil, he is rather loud and vocal, a bit brash, loves his tucker and quite willing to stand his ground when you are in the pen with him and rather handsome in a rugged sort of a way.


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## zombiesniper (Nov 3, 2017)

Awww. Ain't they the cutest scare your nickers off little buggers you've ever seen?


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## ZombiesniperJr (Nov 3, 2017)

Nice shots have you ever seen a wild one?


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## BrentC (Nov 3, 2017)

How is the devil population doing with the cancer?  Is it starting to recover?


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## Gary A. (Nov 3, 2017)

Thanks for this thread.  Very informative, especially if I ever run into the Devil, I won't let go of the tail. Thank you for all your good work.


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## Terrier (Nov 3, 2017)

BrentC said:


> How is the devil population doing with the cancer?  Is it starting to recover?



Quick answer - Yes. Devil Facial Tumour (DFT) the worlds only known contagious cancer that was 100% lethal within 5 months of contraction devastated the wild population in 2000/2001 and they were listed as critically endangered and were facing extinction. However this spurred the "authorities" into action and some serious research was initiated. A vaccine was developed and appeared to be working, captive animals (worldwide) were reintroduced to widen the gene pool and with careful management and a certain amount of luck the population increased to a level where they are no longer "critical" but remain endangered.

The research did suffer a minor setback when two vaccinated, released Devils developed DFT II, this was a concern, if it had been there all along not so bad, but if it was a mutation it was feared if it could mutate within a host, there was a possibility it could mutate to a different host animal although there is no evidence of this occurring (yet, fingers crossed).

But it is an "ill wind that blows no good", during the research scientists discovered a powerful 'peptide' in the milk of the females, this peptide is a powerful anti bacterial agent that stops bacterial infection common in Devils due to there (80%) carrion diet. Science has been able to synthesise this peptide and it is very effective in killing bacterial infections in humans and is tipped to be the next big thing as antibiotics begin to fail.

So yes the Devil is making a comeback.



ZombiesniperJr said:


> Nice shots have you ever seen a wild one?



Yes, there is a wild population close to where I live (Huonville Tasmania) at present mostly on the Eastern and Southern side of the Huon River, but being almost exclusively nocturnal and rather elusive I am yet to get a decent shot of a wild critter.


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## BrentC (Nov 3, 2017)

Terrier said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> > How is the devil population doing with the cancer?  Is it starting to recover?
> ...



Thanks for the info!  Good news.


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## Terrier (Nov 18, 2017)

A couple more of "Lucky".


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