Tasmania part 1, devils and wombats

Greetings from Tasmania, Phileas here and I should straight away say that this blog carries a warning that some of the photos may offend those of a sensitive nature. Fogg will not be inputing into this posting and he was not at all sure that photos of wombat and devil poo would interest many of our readers but I would disagree and so I would like to spend a little while telling you about these fascinating creatures.

We did not see Tasmanian Devils in the wild. They are very shy creatures, tend to be nocturnal and their numbers have been devastated in the last few years by a cancer which is apparently spread by contact and for which there is no known cure. These animals are now on the endangered list and if no cure is found could be extinct in the wild in the next 15 years. This would be a tragedy as they are the most fascinating animals and have an important role to play in clearing up all the roadkill left on the side of the road every night!! There are animals on the west of the island who appear to have resistance to the disease and so much research is being done into identifying genes and cross breeding to try to incorporate this resistance into the rest of the population. The papers here have been running the story of Cedric, a west coast devil who appears to have this immunity and who could hold the key to eradicating the disease or at least halting its progress. We visited an excellent conservation park near Hobart where there is a successful breeding programme in place and where it is possible to watch the extraordinary behaviour of these iconic animals. They were called devils because the early settlers thought that they were possessed by the devil. This idea was caused by the bloodcurdling sound they make when they are competing for food with other devils. I have captured this on my camcorder and it is a sound I have never heard before. I suppose it could be called a cross between a scream and a growl and it is accompanied by apparently aggressive biting and chasing at high speed in circles!! These animals have a mouth full of very sharp teeth capable of cutting through fur, skin and bone all of which is swallowed. We were told that their jaws are as strong as those of a crocodile. Having said all this they were very endearing and we thoroughly enjoyed our meeting with them!
This is a photograph of a wombat called Rebecca and as her face shows she is a close relative of the koala. Like the devil the wombat is a marsupial but because it digs burrows its pouch faces backwards. We saw a large number of these wonderful animals in the wild when we were staying at Cradle Mountain. They are suprisingly large, Rebecca, the resident old lady at the Lodge was a metre long, and apparently they are the fastest marsupial apart from the red kangaroo. They can reach speeds of up to 40km/hr over 150 metres which is faster than an olympic sprinter apparently!! They were quite oblivious to us and just carried on munching only turning their rear end towards us as if to say if I can't see you you can't see me!
They have very few predators but if any try to get into their burrow they block its entrance with their bottom. It contains a flat bony plate which they use to crush the predator's head against the roof of the burrow. Not so cute now eh?!! They have three sphincters below the plate which they sort of pump up to get the necessary pressure to push the plate upwards. So here is a wombat burrow entrance which will lead into a series of chambers. Unlike the badger which is a name given to them here they are solitary and do not live in family groups. The devil may take over the burrow and the wombat will just move away and dig another one, a very pragmatic animal.
Now to the last two pictures which I make no apology for including. An animal's droppings can tell a lot about the life of that animal, think about owl pellets and the contents of the Iceman's gut. The first is devil poo and the wombat fur that it consumed is clearly visible. We also saw partially digested dish clothes and apparently they will eat their way through tents and trainers as well as proper food!!
The second is wombat and its shape is so distinctive, it even looks like a wombat!! The reason, that arrangement of rectal sphincters used to produce pressure to squash prey will also produce 'square' poo!

So now you know all about devils and wombats.

I hope that you have found this interesting and have not been offended.

Best wishes from Phileas.