Tasmanian Devil or Taz

The Tasmanian devil is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial in Australia.

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It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding.

Taz Tasmanian devil color in

Unusually for a marsupial, its forelegs are slightly longer than its hind legs. The fur is usually black, although irregular white patches on the chest and rump are common.

The Tasmanian devil is found in the wild only in the Australian island state of Tasmania. It`s large head and neck allow it to generate the strongest bite per unit body mass of any living mammal, and it hunts prey and scavenges, as well as eating household products if humans are living nearby. Although it is usually solitary, it sometimes eats with other devils and defecates in a communal location.

Devil facial tumour

Since the late 1990s, devil facial tumour disease has drastically reduced the devil population and now threatens the survival of the species, which in May 2009 was declared to be endangered.

The Tasmanian devil is probably best known internationally as the inspiration for the Looney Tunes cartoon character the Tasmanian Devil, or "Taz"

Tasmanian devil Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

Bonorong is not a zoo but a wildlife sanctuary, specialising in the care and rehabilitation of orphaned and injured wildlife, while giving visitors an up-close and personal experience.

After many years in court regarding trademark, A deal with Warner Bros. allows the Tasmanian Government to manufacture and sell up to 5000 special edition Taz plush toys with all profit going towards funding scientific research into the Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

The Tasmanian Government and Warner Bros. have previously disputed the government's right to use the character as a tourism promotion, which Warner Bros. offered if they paid for it. The government refused this offer.

All of the animals are at the sanctuary for a reason and a significant majority of  funding comes from generous guests that visit the park. They need people to visit them to continue there hard work. 

At Bonorong you will see a number of species that are sadly now extinct everywhere but Tasmania. They include the Tasmanian Devil, the Eastern Quoll, the Tasmanian Pademelon and the shy Tasmanian Bettong. These four marsupial species have made their last stand Tasmania and other marsupials sadly are at risk of joining that list.

At Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary the Tasmanian Devils are active during the day, so you can view them at any time.

Australia has the highest number of mammal extinctions in the last 200 years and the people at Bonorong are determined to make sure these amazing animals don’t join that list. As well as these animals you will see everything from golden possums, potoroos and emus to the brilliant spotted-tailed quolls, wombats and echidnas.

 

 

 

For the ultimate up-close wildlife experience, join the ‘Nocturnal Nights’ tours, an exclusive out-of-hours guided tour of the park with the owner or manager. Bookings are essential.

Bonorong Wildlife Park is situated in Brighton, 25-minutes’ drive (25 kilometres/15 miles) north of Hobart.

Quoll native cat

British explorer Captain Cook collected quolls along the east coast of Australia in 1770, and recorded "quoll" as their local Aboriginal name. Quolls were often seen in later years by early settlers, who called them "native cat", "native polecat" and "spotted marten", names based on familiar European animals.

Quolls or native cats (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 centimetres (30 in) long, with hairy tails about 20 to 35 centimetres (14 in) long. Females have six to eight nipples and develop a pouch—which opens towards the tail—only during the breeding season, when they are rearing young. Quolls live both in forests and in open valley land. Though primarily ground-dwelling, they have developed secondary arboreal characteristics. They do not have prehensile tails, but do have ridges on the pads of their feet,to walk the rough ground. Their molars and canines are strongly developed.

Cane toads have driven the northern quoll to extinction in many parts of northern Australia and they are threatening to invade Western Australia's Kimberley regions, one of the quoll's last strongholds.

But a University of Sydney project revealed in 2010 is teaching them to avoid eating the invasive amphibians.



Before releasing the quolls into the wild, Professor Rick Shine, Stephanie O'Donnell and Dr Jonathan Webb fed each marsupial a small dead cane toad.

The toads were not large enough to kill the quolls, but they were laced with a chemical that made the quolls feel nauseous.

Dr Webb said the quolls quickly learned to avoid eating toads.

The tribe Dasyurini to which quolls belong also includes the Tasmanian devil, antechinuses, the Kowari, and mulgaras, which makes him a relative of Taz the Tasmanian Devil.