The 11 most recently released devils began exploring their new home once they were freed from round, white cages at the nearly 1,000-acre Barrington Tops wildlife refuge in New South Wales state, about 190 kilometers (120 miles) north of Sydney.
“Seeing those devils released into a wild landscape - it’s a really emotional moment,” said Liz Gabriel, director of conservation group Aussie Ark, which led the release effort in partnership with other conservation groups. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Tasmanian devils, the carnivorous marsupials whose feisty, frenzied eating habits won the animals cartoon fame, have returned to mainland Australia for the first time in some 3,000 years. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. It's hoped a solution can be found in time to stop the devil heading the same way as the Tasmanian Tiger.This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Research is expensive and lots of people, including the company that owns Taz the Tassie Devil have been contributing money to help with the fight. while they're still infected but not infectious then we can get them out of the population before they have the chance to spread the disease. One group has come up with a way of detecting the disease in the devils before they can spread it to other devils. It's been a race against the clock for scientists trying to find a solution wildlife officers are monitoring them in the wild and lots of special breeding programs have been set up across the country. The tumours build up until eventually the animal can't eat and they starve to death. The disease is spread mainly when they bite each other. It was discovered about 13-years-ago and since then the devil population has dropped by a massive 70 percent. They're dying from a contagious facial cancer. In 1941 special laws were brought in to protect the Tassie Devil and things began to improve, but now they face a new challenge. This also happened to the Tasmanian Tiger, which eventually became extinct about 70 years ago. Early european settlers used to hunt and kill the devils because they ate their chickens.
Now they only exist in the wild in Tasmania, but even there, their numbers are dwindling. They're described as vacuums of the forest because they eat all the dead animals - bones, fur and all! And they have super strong jaws and teeth to help them munch through it! Looks gross and they seem pretty feisty, but according to some, the devil's reputation isn't a fair one - they're apparently quite timid, sensitive creatures.įemale devils give birth to about 20 babies at once, but there's only room for four in the pouch so it's survival of the toughest! The babies are called joeys and when they're too big for the pouch they ride on their mum's back like koalas.ĬATHERINE: Now you'll find Tassie Devils in zoos right across mainland Australia, but they died out in the wild about 4-thousand years ago.
And what do they eat?ĬATHERINE: So what do we have here for breakfast? They make the noises when they're feeding together to establish dominance. Well it was given to them by the early European Settlers in the 1800s because of the bloodcurdling screams and growls they make. So why the fiery name and bad reputation? Taz is angry, feisty, snarly and scary, a reputation shared by all Tassie Devils. CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: They star in one of the world's most popular cartoons.