Young she devils give hope for dying breed
Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 Oct 2008: 11.
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Abstract
Tasmania’s Primary Industries Minister, David Llewellyn, said 34 joeys had been born in Australian zoos during the past year. There are now 115 devils in the Insurance Breeding Program being managed by zoos including the Australian Reptile Park, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Healesville Sanctuary.
Taronga Zoo curator Paul Andrew said that although he would not like a Tasmanian devil as a pet — they are loud and aggressive and smell awful — he was concerned it could go the same way of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger.
“It is a major and very significant player in the Tasmanian ecosystem, and responsible for keeping the fox out of Tasmania,” Mr Andrew said.
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WHEN zookeepers at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo learned that one of their Tasmanian devils had given birth to four healthy joeys, they were delighted. When they learned all four were female, they were ecstatic.
The Tasmanian devils were born at the zoo in March and will form a vital part of a program to preserve the species as fears mount that they will become extinct in the wild from a rare cancer.
Devil facial tumour disease, one of the only contagious cancers known to science, is decimating the wild population. The numbers of Tasmanian devils has dropped by almost two-thirds in the past decade.
A fundraising program to expand a nationwide captive breeding program was launched yesterday at Taronga Zoo.
But the animals are difficult to work with, breeding only two or three times during their short lives, which is why the arrival of four female joeys has been so celebrated.
Tasmania’s Primary Industries Minister, David Llewellyn, said 34 joeys had been born in Australian zoos during the past year. There are now 115 devils in the Insurance Breeding Program being managed by zoos including the Australian Reptile Park, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Healesville Sanctuary.
Fundraising for the program, which will be spread across 17 different organisations around the country, will be co-ordinated by theTaronga Foundation.
Taronga’s Tasmanian devil keeper, Nick Devos, said the carnivorous marsupials’ combative nature was helping the cancer spread rapidly.
“They will bite and scuff each other over food, and that is how it is transferred,” Mr Devos said.
“Low genetic diversity has led to it being so contagious. Because they are so similar genetically, when the disease gets passed on, theother animal’s cells don’t go into an immune response.”
Taronga Zoo curator Paul Andrew said that although he would not like a Tasmanian devil as a pet — they are loud and aggressive and smell awful — he was concerned it could go the same way of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger.
“It is a major and very significant player in the Tasmanian ecosystem, and responsible for keeping the fox out of Tasmania,” Mr Andrew said.
“One of the real worries is that if we lose too much of the devil population, foxes will get established and those species that have survived in Tasmania but not on the mainland, including some very rare quolls, bandicoots and wallabies, will be lost.
“They also have an intrinsic value in their own right. They are the most extraordinary marsupial. They have a more powerful bite than anything known, comparable to a hyena or the extinct sabre-toothed tiger.”
The Save the Tasmanian Devil program is being funded by the Tasmanian and federal governments.
Credit: John Stapleton