Kids know about "Taz," a Warner Bros cartoon character, a grunting, growling carnivore based on a real animal, the Tasmanian devil, which is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial.
Until recently, you could only find a Tasmanian devil on the island of Tasmania, off the coast of Australia, but people involved with Aussie Ark are bringing them to breed in New South Wales, on the Australian mainland. Aussie Ark calls themselves "the life raft of threatened, endangered native species to create an insurance population."
They are calling this the #DevilComeback. The Devil has not lived on Australia for some 3,000 years, but people have decided that the time is right to "rewild" Australia and bring balance to the bush.
[Those of you who love the English language will note the birth of a new word, along with the new devils being born. "Rewild" is new, and let's not send it any presents.]
These Devils might seem cute and cuddly like teddy bears, but they are incredibly temperamental and have one of the strongest bites of all mammals.
But that strong set of teeth and jaws were no match in 1000 BC, when dingoes were first brought to Australia by Asian migrants. In no time at all, there were no Devils left on the mainland and the only survivors had wound up in Tasmania.
So, in 2020, the good folks at Aussie Ark set free 26 Tasmanian devils into the mainland wilderness and hoped for the best, and in 2021, seven healthy joeys were born!
Live long and prosper, joeys! Life evolves.
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