March is Breeding Time for Tasmanian Devils

Many of you know that I spend quite a bit of time seeking out Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) attempting to gain suitable photographs of nocturnal devils for the Devil Task Force, the branch of the Tasmania Government assigned with the task of protecting and conserving the devil.

Whilst there is never a perfect photograph, my collection of devil photographs is slowing increasing as I spend many of my evenings in the field.  I thought I’d quickly share with you one of the latest images of a night-time devil.

One aspect which is a little different is the rear leg held upright with the pad exposed. At the time when I took the photograph I didn't notice this.

ABOVE:  Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii).  The yawn or open mouth is NOT an aggressive threat posture, but a warning signal that either I or another devil is getting too close - it's a way for the animal to communicate “keep your distance” without entering into an actual fight. 

At some stage, I'll write a post outlining how I photograph the devils at night.  It isn't as straight forward as you may think and it's taken considerable time to perfect my technique using multiple flash units.

Breeding Season

At the moment the devils are a little skittish as we are entering into the mating season.  Many sexually mature female devils are deep within the confines of a den involved in other nocturnal affairs.  During the breeding season, males will fight over females in an attempt to gain individual mating rights, and in an attempt to ensure their mate’s infidelity (and maintain his genetic line), keep their chosen female in custody within the den.   Often you will observe a male devil literally dragging a female along with him as he leaves the den to drink or eat.  Copulation is not a “do and run” deed with devils and often can take five days to complete.  The reason for this lengthy period of time is that the female  devil ovulates up to three times in a 21 day period.    Devils are not monogamous and females may mate with several males if left unprotected, fighting off younger “lesser” males in an attempt to only allow the stronger male to reproduce with her.

Time is Always lacking...

It seems there’s always a shortage of time for everybody these days and unfortunately I’m not an exception; not as many images as I’d like to, get uploaded to the website or to stock.

To read more on the Tasmanian Devil - read my earlier post.

Shadowing the Tasmania Devil Task Force

I’ve just spent the last week or so photographically documenting the activities of the Tasmania Government Devil Task Force (DTF) while they have been working on what they call a “Rolling Disease Suppression Line”. This has been in association with The Devi Task Force belonging to Tasmania State Government.  It's intended in due course to produce several articles on the team and the devil to raise awareness of the devil's plight in Tasmania.

Devil Task Force Team

The field component of the DTF comprises 3 groups of 3 individuals and each group is allocated different areas to work within the state of Tasmania.  Each group consists of a Field Zoologist, Field Officer, and a volunteer.  Supplemental to this is a separate team comprising two veterinarians. 

Through field monitoring (capture & release) the DTF strives to determine the extent and prevalence of Facial Tumour Disease (FTD) within populations of Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus harrisii).  Broadly speaking, FTD is more prevalent in eastern populations than western populations and determining which devil populations are affected can assist in the management and quarantine of the disease.

Most of the week involved an early wake up and rendezvous with one of the DTF teams to shadow their activities whilst they checked, cleaned and reset devil traps.  Devils captured in traps the evening before (Tasmania Devils are nocturnal) were removed from the trap, weighed and inspected for the FTD before being released.  If FTD was suspected or observed a call was made to the roving veterinarian unit who attended the animal to obtain further information for analysis which included a biopsy and blood taking.  Each captured devil then had a digital ID chip inserted beneath its skin between the shoulder blades.  The chip can be read by a supermarket style scanner gun.

Additional to this process was the collection of information on each captured devil which included sex, sexual maturity, carried young, age and any obvious deformities.  The information collected is then collated at a later date and added to a database to assist in the management of disease free devil populations. 

DTF personnel work a busy day starting at dawn and only ending after sunset.  Up to 20 traps are set along a pre-allocated line within the forest, forest coup or farmland.  Much of the work is off the main road and along forest trails and four wheel drive tracks involving the use of four wheel drive vehicles. 

Just because you set a trap doesn’t mean you will capture a devil; often traps were left unsprung and at other times they were sprung by other animals such as the Tasmania Tiger Quoll (Dasyurus maculates).  In the 5 days I worked with DTF we drove 1700 kilometres (1056 miles) in rain, hail, sleet and sunshine!

Thanks is due to the Devil Task Force Team (Phil, Holly & Anton), Veternarians (Michelle & Kim) and staff administration (Caroline & Kim) for allowing access.

Images top to bottom:  Devil Task Force Zoologist Holly Devereaux (Field Officer) releases captured devil, Anton (Volunteer) & Phil (Team Leader) take biopsy for tumour desease, Phil (Zoologist) inspects devil to determine age from teeth.

For further information on the facial tumour disease and the Devil Task Force please go to http://tassiedevil.com.au/

To see a short video of the Tasmania devil taken in the wild, click here to view on U-Tube.