A Tasmanian Devil grabs a piece of boned meat from a Road Kill by its keeper using a rod at feeding time in its enclosure at the Tasmanian Devil UNzoo
A Tasmanian Devil grabs a piece of boned meat from a Road Kill by its keeper using a rod at feeding time in its enclosure at the Tasmanian Devil UNzoo (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) on the Arthur Hwy, between Hobart and Port Arthur in a small town of Taranna in southeast Tasmania, Australia. its spine-chilling screeches, black colour, and showing its needle-sharp teeth led the early European settlers to call it The Devil. They have jaws powerful enough to break a bone. Tasmanian Devils (Tassie Devils for short) are mainly scavengers and hunt at night. Now listed as endangered, the Tasmanian Devil is the largest living carnivorous marsupial in the world. They once lived on mainland Australia, but are now only found in Tasmania. There are fewer than 25,000 Tasmanian devils left in the wild. 650 devils are living in captivity that are part of the insurance breeding programme. The main threat to their existence is Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). It is a fatal cancer which causes tumours to appear around the mouth and face. This spreads from devil to devil through biting and mating. This cancer was first reported in the mid-nineties causing the devil population to dramatically decline.
Size: 4024px × 6048px
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Photo credit: © richard sowersby / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: animal, australia, australian, carnivorous, conservation, dasyuridae, devil, dftd, disease, endangered, facial, family, feeding, harrisii, hunting, international, kani, mammal, marsupial, native, nature, palawa, protected, purinina, sarcophilus, species, spices, symbol, tasmania, tasmanian, tassie, time, tumour, union, unzoo, wildlife
