'Princess Mary' adds her rare Devil genes to the pool

This two-year-old Tasmanian devil, nicknamed Princess Mary by keepers, arrived recently at the Devil Ark - a breeding site established in the NSW Barrington Tops in 2010 to protect the species from extinction.

Supervisor Adrian Good said Princess Mary was important because she was genetically diverse to the 120 devils already thriving at the site.

Read more at the Herald Sun.

Devil-proof fence for Tasmania?

Van Diemen's Land Company is looking to build a devil-proof fence around its massive Woolnorth property to protect one of the last pockets of healthy Tasmanian devils in the state, according to the Tasmanian newspaper The Hobart Mercury.

The company is in the process of converting beef pasture, clearing bush and increasing its dairy herd as part of a $180 million expansion.

Conservationists have raised concerns that endangered devils would be put at further risk as native vegetation was cleared to make more room for dairy pasture. Woolnorth, on the state's North-West Coast, is home about 600 devils.

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust has criticised the company for electing to clear almost 2000ha of bush in line with its expansion plans, saying loss of habitat will cause devil and quoll numbers to drop.

But VDL chief executive Michael Guerin said Woolnorth boasted some of the biggest and healthiest devils in Tasmania and he was confident they could continue to co-exist with farming.

'Mad Max' to abseil Pelverata Falls for devils

Tasmania‟s Max Moller is like a local combination of legendary animal lover Steve Irwin, action man Bear Grylls and wildlife photographer Steve Parish.

So those who know him are not fazed when he says he's going to launch himself off the top of the State's tallest waterfall to raise money for the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal and capture every moment on camera.

Pelverata Falls in the Snug Tiers is virtually in the backyard of his Margate home and on Saturday 13 October, Max will abseil 114m to the bottom carrying a Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal banner that the whole world will see.

Cameras on Max's head, arm and positioned above and below the falls will record every move and live footage and comments on the plight of the State's iconic animal, which is battling Devil Facial Tumour Disease, will stream live over the internet.

Amazing images of the waterfall circulating widely could also be a bonus for local tourism.
The wildlife filmmaker and adventurer is a former special forces army officer who 15 years ago swapped weapons for a camera and moved to Tasmania.

Max spends his days hiking, rafting and climbing to remote areas collecting footage of endangered animals and interesting natural areas, with his work having appeared in National Geographic magazine and a David Attenborough documentary.

More recently he's been filming for British movie producer, actor and extreme fisherman Robson Green.

Max said that he is passionate about helping raise awareness of the plight of the Tasmania Devils.

“They run around my house and I dread thinking about a day when I could no longer hear their crazy growls of a night time,” he said.

“I'm calling on local businesses and individuals to sponsor me $100 per metre of the abseil and every cent will go directly to the appeal.”

Supporters are being asked to go to the appeal's official website www.tassiedevil.com.au, click on the Save The Tasmanian Devil Program Appeal icon at the top of the page and fill out the donation form choosing Max Moller Abseil in the 'inspiration' field.

Administered by the University of Tasmanian Foundation, The Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal is the official fundraising entity for the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, directing funds to Australia's national response to DFTD.

Baby boom for Tasmanian Devils

The Tasmanian Devil population is dwindling in its native home of Tasmania, an island state located just off the coast of Australia. Experts say it is possible the species could become extinct within the next decade if action is not taken to preserve the existing healthy population. Programs to restore the population are working so well there have been a reported 40 births this year!

Maria Island Tasmanian devil ark approved

A proposal to establish a healthy population of Tasmanian devils on Maria Island has been approved.

The Environment, Parks and Heritage Minister, Brian Wightman, said the Parks and Wildlife Service has completed a comprehensive assessment of the project. The Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan have also been approved by the Tasmanian and Australian Government's Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

"For 18 months, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program has been monitoring wildlife in the Maria Island National Park," Mr Wightman said.

"Members have been carefully researching how to release and manage a population of devils. They've been considering potential impacts, and developing mitigating measures, if required.

"They've also completed formal assessments and applications under State and Commonwealth requirements.

"This project has been researched and analysed - and it stacks up. It'll now become a valuable part of our strategy to save the iconic and much-loved Tasmanian Devil from Devil Facial Tumour Disease," he said. The Parks and Wildlife Service has imposed conditions on the approval, to protect the island's natural and cultural heritage values.

"Despite all the work done so far, the program recognises the potential for some unforeseen impacts from introducing Tasmanian devils to Maria Island," Mr Wightman said. "That's why the introduction will be staged over time, with the devils and other species under constant monitoring.

"This project will be slowly and carefully introduced, to ensure it's done safely and effectively," he said.    

With Devil Facial Tumour Disease continuing to spread to new populations, Mr Wightman said establishing secure insurance populations is increasingly vital.

"This project helps add to a healthy population of Tasmanian devils, that can be used to re-build wild populations, if needed, in future," he said.

Mr Wightman said the proposal involves releasing up to 50 Tasmanian devils on Maria Island, in stages, over the next two years. The next stage is working with the Zoo and Aquaria Association to identify the most suitable animals for release.

For the initial release, about 10 animals will be chosen from the overall insurance population of more than 500, which meet genetic and behavioural criteria. That process will happen in coming months, with the initial release planned for later this year.

Love is in the air @ Devil's Ark

Following the first successful breeding season at Devil Ark last year, the next season is almost upon us.

The female Tasmanian devil is preparing her body for the mating season, which commences this month and sees the skin around her neck thicken and her pouch deepen to accommodate her joeys. The female breeds at age two years and can rear up to four joeys a year for an average of three years.

The female chooses the male and mating occurs over about a 7 day period. If she doesn’t get pregnant with her first ovulation, she’ll have two more cycles before the end of June. The species is not monogamous and she could have many partners if not guarded by the male.

The process is called “mate guarding” and sees the male sprawled across the entrance of the den in which the female resides to prevent other unwelcome male visits. Gestation is a short 21 days, and then around 30 tiny devils are born. The mother has only four teats, so only the first to arrive and fuse themselves to her survive. They will feed from their mother for six months and venture outside of the den in Spring.

The juvenile devils will become fully independent by December. Last year’s Devil Ark babies are now in the crèche at Devil Ark and will be moved into free range enclosure when they reach breeding age next year.

Devil Ark’s first breeding season last year resulted in 26 baby devils. This is the highest number of joeys born in captivity.

Devil Ark is the largest breeding facility for the endangered Tasmanian devil and is now home to almost 100 devils in large free range enclosures that mimic the natural landscape of their native Tasmania. With the insidious DFTD (Devil Facial Tumour Disease) now in the Tasmania’s North West, the devil’s last stronghold, extinction in the wild seems inevitable.

A zoological adventure in Australia

At the start of the year the Grant Museum's Jack Ashby began blogging about his adventures Down Under, the result of a lengthy stint of fieldwork in 2010. His blog posts make for illuminating reading - there's nothing like seeing your own country through the eyes of an appreciative foreigner.

Over to Jack!

"From April 2010 I spent about five months undertaking several zoological field projects across Australia. I worked with government agencies, universities and NGOs on conservation and ecology studies ranging from Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease, the effect of fire, rain and introduced predators on desert ecology and how to poison cats. This series of blog posts is a delayed account  of my time in the field."

Week 1 - Poisoning Cats Pt I

Week 2 - Poisoning Cats Pt II

Week 3 - Catching Rats in the Land of the Undead

Week 4 - Sympathy for the Devil Pt I

Week 5 - Sympathy for the Devil Pt II

Week 6 & 7 - Sympathy for the Devil III

Fossilised Devil DNA may save species

News from the front of the facial tumour battle - ancient DNA may hold the key to saving endangered species such as the Tasmanian devil.

For Mike Bunce, the skin, bones and dung of ancient Australian native animals are much more than the sum of their parts - they are a time machine to the past. Bunce, who heads the ancient DNA lab at Murdoch University in Western Australia, searches the remnants of long-dead animals and plants for clues about how to conserve their modern-day descendants.

Known as 'conservation paleobiology', this emerging field of science relies heavily on fossil and ancient pollen analysis together with carbon dating and, importantly, ancient DNA analysis to answer vital questions about the history of endangered species like discovering where an endangered species lived hundreds of years ago, to how it coped with massive changes in the environment.
 
You can read the whole article here at the Discovery News website.

Tasmanian Devils set for extinction?

A TASMANIAN devil expert fears the species will become extinct in the wild despite multi-million-dollar efforts to save it from disease.

Save the Tasmanian Devil program senior keeper Jocelyn Hockley says work to establish a captive insurance population will stop the species suffering the same fate as the Tasmanian tiger.

"An amazing amount of work has been done, but I am not sure if there is any more that can be done," Dr Hockley said as Tasmania marked Threatened Species Day.

"The devil facial tumour disease is moving and changing and the species' survival depends on how the disease evolves as it moves west."

Five Tasmanian scientists are lobbying the State and Federal Governments to protect more forest from logging to give the state's remaining healthy Tasmanian devils a fighting chance to survive.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/09/08/171505_tasmania-news.html