ZooBorns

What The Devil! Ever Seen a Bottle-feeding Baby Tasmanian Joey?

Known for their feisty demeanor, Tasmanian Devil babies show quite another side. These cheeky little devils are joeys from Australia's Devil Ark, the largest conservation breeding program for the Tasmanian Devil on mainland Australia. The iconic Tasmanian marsupial is at serious risk of extinction from the highly contagious Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). Devil Ark's ambitious breeding program might be the key to its survival.  It's believed that in the next 20 years the Tasmanian Devil could be extinct on Tasmania due to DFTD's rampant effects. Since its discovery in 1996, numbers of wild devils have plummeted across Tasmania, and in some areas, more than 85% of the wild population is now extinct.

So it is a battle against time! Now genetic diversity is also rapidly diminishing in Tasmania, so at Devil Ark, they are racing to breed large numbers of devils to preserve the species. There are currently more than 120 devils at the Ark and the goal is to have 360 individuals there by 2016.

Photo Credit: Devil Ark

Tasmanian Devils are known for their fierce demeanor, but watch these babies nursing and playing and you'll see a different side!

Read much more about Devil Ark and the important work they are doing below the fold:

Three Little Devils Are Hopeful Sign!

The Alma Park Zoo's baby Tasmanian Devils (Imps) are starting to make themselves known as they begin to venture out of the den with their mom, Lilith. All three are girls and what is even more remarkable is the fact they are all completely black. Devils usually have a white band across their chest or white across their rump, but not these girls. To have one completely black would be rare, to have three is quite exceptional.

These little imps are also significant as they are the great grand devils (children) of individuals with Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) - but are of course disease free themselves. This means that they are unrelated to all other devils on the mainland and so play a vital role in the genetic diversity of the captive devil population.

Photo credit: Alma Park Zoo

The iconic Tasmanian Devil is at serious risk of extinction from the highly contagious Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and wild populations are disappearing fast.

In a bid to prevent extinction, Devils must be captive bred in facilities well away from the disease – these include mainland Australian zoos, and the unique Devil Ark, which consists of large free ranging natural enclosures.

Tasmanian Devil Joeys Health Check Brings Hope for Species

Taronga Zoo’s Tasmanian Devil keepers got their first hands-on check today of three little Tasmanian Devil joeys, the first to be born at Taronga this breeding season. The youngsters, born to second-time mother, Nina, were snuggled tightly in their maternal nest and keepers gently lifted them out to check their body condition and determine their sex. 

Tasmanian Devil keeper Tony Britt-Lewis said: “We have known for some time that Nina was carrying joeys in her pouch, and now they’re older, Nina will leave them alone in her nest which is the perfect opportunity for us to do an overall check. We were really happy to discover that of the three, one is a female, and she will play a vital role in the breeding program in the future. The other two are males and one of them is already showing signs of being very feisty.”

With Tasmanian Devils under threat from extinction due to a contagious cancer that causes fatal facial tumours, the birth of these three joeys is encouraging for the species and for the network of mainland zoos managing insurance populations. Sadly, the fate of wild Tasmanian Devils is not promising, with the species listed as endangered. Field monitoring has shown a dramatic fall in the population of devils since the disease emerged in 1996. After getting the disease, devils generally do not live longer than six months.

Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo

Britt-Lewis added, “After successfully mothering a litter of four joeys last year, Nina is definitely a great mum. This year’s litter makes a total of seven offspring, proving she is a significant contributor to the insurance breeding program for this iconic Australian species.”

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Tasmanian Devil Quartet: Three Boys and One Valuable Little Girl

At Sydney's Taronga Zoo, Tasmanian Devil Keepers at got their first hands-on check of four little
devil joeys, the first born at the Zoo this breeding season. The youngsters were snuggled tightly in their nest with their mother, Nina. Keepers gently lifted them out to check their body condition and determine their sex. Closer inspection revealed that Nina had given birth to one female and three male joeys.

Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo

Australian Fauna Supervisor, Nick de Vos, said: “Over the last few months we’ve been observing Nina and the joeys from a distance. We knew she had four little ones but we were absolutely stoked to discover she had a girl amongst the litter. Females are vital for the ongoing national breeding program."

 

Tas Devil Baby and Wombat Joey for Zoo Australia

Zoo Australia, home of the late great Steve Irwin, has welcomed a bevy of babies this spring* including a Wombat Joey, two Tasmanian Devil pups, and a few Koala joeys. The zoo's head of mammals, Tammy Forge says of the little Devils, "These little guys will play an important role in Tasmanian devil conservation efforts, and will be ambassadors for their species here at Australia Zoo." Below are pictures of the Devils, follow by a shot of the Wombat Joey peeping out from his Mom's backwards facing pouch.  Wombats are designed for digging, so this special pouch keeps baby clean while Mom forages with formidable claws.

Photo Credits: Australia Zoo

Tasmanian Devils Get a Checkup

As the Taronga Zoo vet staff performs check-ups on their new little Tasmanian Devil joeys, we check back in on these feisty little babies. Characterized by their black fur, pungent odour when stressed, extremely loud and disturbing screech, and ferocity when feeding¹, Tasmanian Devils make poor dinner guests.  

 

 

 

Photo credits: Lorinda Taylor / Taronga Zoo 

As mentioned in our previous post, a recent epidemic has devastated the Tasmanian Devil population and researchers are racing to protect the species. You can help by learning more and donating.

1. Couldn't resist using this perfectly worded line from the BBC.

Four Baby 'Taz's' Live Up to Their Reputation

Today at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, four Tasmanian Devil joeys underwent paternity examinations to determine their father. The tests are being done in an effort to aide the survival of the newly endangered species in the wild, which has been struck by a devastating disease. As you can see in the pictures below, even baby Tasmanian Devils liveup to their feisty and ill-tempered reputation. 

 

 Photos: Getty Images

*** UPDATE ***

The Taronga Zoo has just supplied us with some additional images that prove Tasmanian Devil joeys aren't always so worked up. Looks like they can even be sweet, for a moment or two...

 

To learn more about how you can help to save the Tasmanian Devil in the wild, please visit this site.