It sounds like I was about to meet some characters from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or J K Roland's Harry Potter stories but in truth I was visiting the 'Devils@Cradle' Wildlife Sanctuary, home to Tasmanian Devils and Quolls, an animal I had not heard of before! There are 6 species of Quolls, four of which are native to Australia and the remaining two that are found in New Guinea,
Tasmanian Devils
The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it's now confined to the island of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, the Tasmanian Devil became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. It's characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. The Tasmanian Devil's large head and neck allow it to generate among the strongest bites per unit body mass of any predatory land mammal. Its bite is so strong that it can consume every part of a corpse, including the bones.
Tasmanian Devils hunt prey and scavenge on carrion. It can take prey up to the size of a small kangaroo, but in practice they are opportunistic and eat carrion more often than they hunt live prey. Although Tasmanian Devils favour Wombats because of the ease of predation and high fat content, it will eat all small native mammals such as Wallabies, Bettong and Potoroos, domestic mammals (including sheep and rabbits), birds (including Penguins), fish, fruit, vegetable matter, insects, tadpoles, frogs and reptiles. No wonder they are called scavengers!
Tasmanian Devils are classed as an endangered species mainly due to loss of habitat but more recently due to a transmissible cancer first seen in 1996 in Mount William in northeastern Tasmania. Known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) it has ravaged Tasmania's wild Devils. The disease is easily passed from animal to animal because of their proclivity to fight over food, especially when it's scarce. Individuals die within months of infection. Estimates of the impact range from 20% to as much as an 80% decline in the Devil population, with over 65% of the state affected. The state's west coast area and far north-west i.e. where we are visiting today, are the only places where devils are tumour free.
The population at the Sanctuary is disease free but field workers here are also testing the effectiveness of disease suppression by trapping and removing diseased devils. It is hoped that the removal of diseased devils from wild populations should decrease the prevalence of the disease and allow more devils to survive beyond their juvenile years and breed.
Although Tasmanian Devils are mainly active at dawn and dusk, those that we saw this afternoon were very active and showing plenty of signs of aggressive behaviour whenever their paths crossed, which was frequently, as my photos illustrate.
Quolls
The 'Devils@Cradle' Sanctuary focuses on Spotted-tail Quolls and Eastern Quolls.
Quolls are another carnivorous marsupial, native to Australia and New Guinea and distantly related to Tasmanian Devils. They are primarily nocturnal, sleeping in hollowed-out logs or rocky dens and coming out to hunt during the night, though on rare occasions they can be seen looking for prey during the day.
The smaller quolls, like the Eastern, primarily eat insects, birds, frogs, lizards and fruit. The spotted-tailed quoll's diet is dominated by mammals such as brushtail possums, rabbits, hares and invertebrates.
Quolls hunt by stalking. They pin small prey down with their front paws while devouring it, and jump onto larger prey, sinking in their claws and closing their jaws around the neck.
Major threats to their survival include the toxic cane toad, predators such as feral cats and foxes, urban development, and poison baiting. Conservation efforts include captive breeding programmes and reintroduction.
Both of the species that we saw this afternoon, despite being nocturnal, were very active and 'cute' - if I'm allowed to say that!
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