Q. How do they get their name?
A. Tasmanian devils seem to have earned their name from Europeans. It is easy to imagine the unearthly screams, coughs and growls coming from devils scavenging - perhaps behind a settler's hut. The settler comes to investigate with an old kerosene lamp and sees these black and white animals with red ears, pink mouths and big wide teeth. The settler would get a fright and fall over, the lamp goes out, and they are left very scared at their encounter with the devil. Aboriginal people had several names for them. One was "tardiba" which does not seem to have a translation equivalent to the European word "devil". Presumably, aboriginals had a more rational and normal relationship with the animal.

Q. Why are they black and white?
A. Many predators have black and white patterns like devils (another example is the orca, or killer whale). This black and white flash pattern seems to be an adaptation to break up the profile of the animal. In some respects it is a form of camouflage as it's breaking the shape of the animal.

Q. Why are their heads so big?
A. The heads are very large in adults, particularly old males, because as adult males compete with females they have to subdue females. As their diet is mainly carrion, bone-crunching and breaking through thick skin is something older animals need to be able to do. Whereas younger animals have a relatively smaller head, they're much more supple and agile animals and seem to be much better hunters. In very old males, the head and neck can contribute nearly a quarter of the weight of the animal!

Q. Why are their whiskers so long?
A. Not only are their whiskers long but there are lots of them. They are positioned in clumps far back on the top of the head plus in the normal 'whiskery' places. These long whiskers help foraging in the dark. They also help devils space themselves from each other when they are feeding on carrion. It helps them park around carrion without crowding - if devils whiskers are not touching each other when they are feeding they are safely outside biting range.

Q. How strong are their jaws?
A. In absolute terms, there is no good measurement because you never know how hard they are biting. That applies to most animals but we do know the relative strength. Devils have jaws of biting power as strong as a dog about 4 times their weight. So a 10 kg devil has as powerful a bite as a 40 kg dog. In this respect they are very similar to hyenas, particularly the spotted hyena.

Q. How long do they live?
A. Very few wild devils live longer than 5 years. In captivity, they may live a few more years.

Q. Are females and males the same size?
A. No. Males are usually about one quarter as large again as the female. A typical adult female would weight 7 or 8 kg, a typical adult male would weigh 10 or 11 kg.

Q. Do they come out in the day?
A. Where they are not harassed by people or dogs, devils love to very quietly and discreetly sun bake. All ages do this, the larger ones not necessarily being involved with the smaller ones. Lizards and devil pups have been seen out sunning themselves. The only animals that seem to feed in the daytime are very desperate or sick.

Q. Why are they not scared of artificial lights?
A. They actually are a little scared of artificial lights at first, but eventually realise that the light is not going to harm them, With other devils about they are more concerned with competition.

Q. What is their hearing like?
A. Their hearing is excellent. It seems to be the dominant sense.

Q. What is their sight like?
A. Like most nocturnal animals their sight seems to be oriented heavily on black and white vision, and black and white vision is mainly designed to detect movement. So if something moves they have good eyesight whereas if something stays still they are unlikely to see it clearly.

Q. What is their sense of smell like?
A. They seem to have an excellent sense of smell, although it is probably not as good as a scent hound.

Q. Why do they make so much noise?
A. The noise is basically bluff to try and intimidate other animals so that there is no fight. Powerful animals like this often have sophisticated mechanisms to avoid fighting so they do not damage themselves. The sound helps sort pecking order.

Q. Why are their ears red?
A. Their ears are red when they are stressed or very excited because the ears flush with blood. The ears do not have hair on them so simply large ears with very thin skin and lots of blood means they would be red.

Q. Why do they yawn?
A. The yawning is in part a displacement behaviour which is a redirection of nervous energy to something that's harmless. An example is a person scratching their head when a policeman is talking to them. A yawn also serves to demonstrate that they are an animal with large teeth and a big mouth, but mainly it is a displacement activity, a sign of low level stress.

Q. Why do they hold their tails up?
A. When they are very excited they hold their tail up no doubt as part of the body language to demonstrate to other devils that they mean business. When they are very angry they will hold their tail almost straight up. The tail can be held in many positions and the subtleties probably have much meaning in communicating the animals level of arousal or aggression to other devils.

Q. Why do they have fat tails?
A. Most marsupials store fat in their tails and a fat tail is usually a sign that an animal is in excellent condition.

Q. Why are some injured in the face?
A. Most Tasmanian devils with injuries on the face are adult males. Many of these injuries have been gained at the end of a mating period when the female fights off the male. Some of these injuries are obtained when males are fighting males for access to females. Very few injuries are caused at squabbles over food.

Q. Why do some Tasmanian devils have scars on the rump or neck?
A. The scars on the rump are mainly caused when animals back into other animals to try and push them away from food. Basically it is safer to be bitten on the very heavily armoured, thick skinned rump than on the face. Scars on the neck usually indicate the animal is a female. The scars are from hair loss caused by males holding the female to subdue them.

Q. Do they have predators?
A. In the past no doubt thylacines were predators of devils. Small devils come out in the day; they run risks from large birds of prey such as eagles, and very small devils run risks at night from large owls like the masked owl and large quolls like the spotted tail quoll. Almost certainly large devils will eat small devils if they are hungry enough. One reason that young devils can climb so well is possibly so they can escape large devils.

Q. What are they related to?
A. Tasmanian devils are most closely related to quolls. Their next closest relationship is with smaller marsupials and a more distant relationship is with thylacines. They are of course more closely related to all other marsupials than placental animals such as dogs.

Q. What does their Latin scientific name mean?
A. Their Latin name is Sarcophilus harisii. That means Harris' meat lover. Harris is the name of the man who described them in scientific terms.

Q. Why do they fight so much?
A. Fighting, often superficial fighting without serious contact, is common because it is the basic mechanism for setting pecking order.

Q. Do they injure each other?
A. Very occasionally, mostly when they are fighting over mates, fighting during mating, and females injuring males. Rarely do they injure each other when fighting over food.

Q. Are Tasmanian devils dangerous to people?
A. No, Tasmanian devils are not dangerous. They do not attack people although they will defend themselves if attacked or trapped. Devils, for all their appearance, are very timid, quiet animals that would much rather escape other animals than fight. However, devils are very powerful, and any bite could cause serious injury. Tasmanian devils are wild animals and therefore should not be trusted with small children, just as you would not trust a large wombat or a large kangaroo with a small child.

Q. Are they territorial?
A. Strictly speaking, they are not territorial. A territory is a defended core of home range. However, devils have fixed home ranges and a small mobile territory they carry with them. That is, they defend a small area of personal space. Females have small territories around den sites. There is much we do not understand about how devils arrange themselves in the landscape.

Q. How far do they travel?
A. Radio tracking has shown that many Tasmanian devils will travel 10 - 20 km in a night within their home range. They do not repeat the same movements every night. If they find food early then they may not travel very far at all. We are not yet sure how far immature animals disperse from their parents.

Q. Were devils always in Tasmania and why are they here?
A. It seems Tasmanian devils evolved in what is now Australia and remains of other species of devils including some very large ones have been found in fossil deposits. Very large devils evolved amongst our mega-fauna. Certainly devils have been in Tasmania for many tens of thousands of years.

Q. Were they in any other place than Tasmania?
A. It seems Tasmanian devils were spread all over Australia and they may have been in Papua New Guinea. They probably became extinct on mainland Australia at least several thousand years ago, either through failure to compete successfully with dingos or through disease, climate change or another process. The actual cause of extinction is not known precisely.

Q. How come Tasmanian devils are active in the day in zoos?
A. They have learnt in zoos that people or anything else will not harm them in the day and that is when they are also fed so people can see them.

Q. Why are some individuals wary, others confident?
A. Like people or any other animal, Tasmanian devils vary immensely in personality traits. They also vary in experience. Animals that have not been frightened or harmed will appear very confident. Animals that have been frightened or hurt will be wary. Like many multiple litters, Tasmanian devils can have different fathers for the same litter, therefore personality traits can vary because of different fathers.

Q. Do Tasmanian devils teeth keep growing?
A. Yes, but very slowly. They also keep wearing, of course; often faster than they grow. Hence old animals can have worn down stumps for teeth.

Q. How many sets of teeth do Tasmanian devils have?
A. Tasmanian devils develop teeth at about 4 months at the first sign of eating food other than milk. They keep those teeth all their life.

Q. How do Tasmanian devils know which way scent leads?
A. The same way that all other animals know. They test the air for increased intensity of smells, the nearer the source the more intense the smell. They may move around to get a better scent, perhaps by moving downwind.

Q. Are Tasmanian devils endangered?
A: No, but they are due to be listed as endangered, In November 2007 the species was recommended for upgraded from the status of vulnerable to endangered due to the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) wiping out much of the Devil Population in half the State of Tasmania.. In February 2006, Tasmanian devils were listed as a vulnerable species under the State’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. More recently the Federal Government included them under the Commonwealth Environment and Biodiversity Act. They are wholly protected.
A decade ago, devil numbers seemed to be at a record high. Then, in the mid 1990s, the first signs of the Tasmanian devil disease were observed.

A research program, which became known as the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) Program, or more simply the Devil Disease Program, has been established to investigate the disease and identify management options.

In September 2006, Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) was gazetted under the Animal Health Act as a List B notifiable disease.

Q. How fast can Tasmanian devils run?
A. On rough terrain Tasmanian devils can run faster than a person; on very smooth terrain they cannot run as fast as a good human runner. Devils have been 'clocked' running on a flat road at nearly 25 km/h for up to 1 km. Tasmanian devils can run at 10 km/h for many kilometres.

Q. Can Tasmanian devils climb?
A. Young Tasmanian devils climb very well, larger devils not so well, but they are very persistent. They have good gripping ability with their front paws even though they do not have retractable claws (as do cats). They use their large footpads on the hind legs as contact grips and friction pads.

Q. Can Tasmanian devils swim?
A. Tasmanian devils can swim very well. However if they have young in the pouch they avoid swimming for more than very short distances. Devils actually love water and will wade and splash about, even sitting or laying down in it to cool. They will often dabble in water with their front paws, somewhat in the manner of racoons. Captive devils (and probably wild ones) will sometimes cache (store) food in water bowls.

Q. What use are Tasmanian devils?
A. Tasmanian devils have a number of values from intrinsic and psychological, through financial to ecological, even a value to Tasmania's famous "clean green" image. Tasmanian devils are the very essence of wildness, they are omnipresent, always there but never there. They play an important role in the Tasmanian psyche, and possibly more than anything else, they are an icon of wild Tasmania. Tasmanian devils have inspired story tellers and writers. Tasmanian devils also offer a great example of wildlife succeeding amongst all manner of pressures, a true 'battler'.

Tasmanian devils are of increasing importance to tourism. Devils are of long time importance in marketing. We have sports teams, products, many items marketed as devil products or associated with devils. Thanks to Warner Brothers there has been some worldwide marketing of Tasmanian devils, albeit a somewhat fanciful image.

Tasmanian evils are basic to displays of Tasmanian wildlife in zoos and wildlife parks. Devils also have a fundamental role in our ecology. They are nature's auditors. Sick animals, slow animals, diseased animals, dead animals are all eaten by devils.

Tasmanian devils are probably a controlling factor for feral cats and a very important line of defence against additional introduced animals, particularly the Red Fox, an animal which is devastating to mainland Australia and a potentially catastrophic introduction to Tasmania. With high densities of devils, it could be very difficult for a vixen to rear young since they have to leave young fox cubs for long periods. A fox den is smelly and messy and would be very obvious to a devil.

Breeding and Pups
Feeding and Habitat
Devil Disease and Population

Information from DPIW Website

Further Information:

Contact: Wildlife Management Branch
Wildlife Management Branch
Department of Primary Industries and Water
134 Macquarie Street, GPO Box 44
Hobart TAS 7001
Phone: 03 6233 6556
Fax: 03 6233 3477
Email: wildlife.enq@dpiw.tas.gov.au