14.12.2011

Tasmanian devils

At Tasman peninsula is also one of Tasmania's devil parks where you can watch Tasmanian devils. Those strange marsupial carnivores have been once distributed over whole Tasmania and parts of mainland Australia as well. They got extinct from the mainland though. In Tasmania they are endangered because of a infective cancer which has wiped out already over 70% of the original devil population.
There are several measures taken to prevent the species from extinction. One is the attempt to trap animals and separate infected animals from the rest of the population. A different approach are enclosures meaning big fenced areas like peninsulas or islands on which healthy animals can breed in natural conditions (so that their natural behavioral pattern does not change). Breeding is also done in zoos etc.


The Tasmanian Devil is the world's largest carnivorous marsupial and often quite bad tempered .. I guess. At least they fight a lot with each other.

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