Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Dasyuromorphia > Dasyuridae > Sarcophilus > Sarcophilus harrisii

Sarcophilus harrisii (Tasmanian Devil)

Synonyms: Ursinus harrisii

Wikipedia Abstract

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. The Tasmanian devil's large head and neck allow it to generate among the strongest bites per unit body mass of any extant mammal land predator, and it hunts prey and scavenges carrion as well as eating household products if humans are living nearby. Although it usually is solitary, it sometimes eats with other devils and defecates
View Wikipedia Record: Sarcophilus harrisii

Infraspecies

Sarcophilus harrisii dixonae
Sarcophilus harrisii harrisii (Tasmanian devil)

Endangered Species

Status: Endangered
View IUCN Record: Sarcophilus harrisii

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
52
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 6.54
EDGE Score: 4.1
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Gestation [3]  26 days
Litter Size [3]  3
Litters / Year [3]  1
Maximum Longevity [3]  13 years
Nocturnal [1]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [2]  27 inches (68 cm)
Water Biome [1]  Coastal
Weaning [3]  8 months 3 days
Adult Weight [2]  17.637 lbs (8.00 kg)
Birth Weight [3]  0.0235 grams
Female Weight [2]  15.432 lbs (7.00 kg)
Male Weight [2]  19.842 lbs (9.00 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [2]  28.6 %
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Scavenger [4]  100 %
Forages - Ground [4]  100 %
Female Maturity [3]  2 years
Male Maturity [3]  2 years

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park 1104012 Tasmania, Australia  
Southwest National Park II 1531400 Tasmania, Australia
Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site 3478040 Tasmania, Australia      

Emblem of

Tasmania

Prey / Diet

Cercartetus lepidus (Tasmanian Pygmy Possum)[5]
Cercartetus nanus (Eastern Pygmy Possum)[6]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Antechinus stuartii (Brown Antechinus)1
Canis lupus (Wolf)1
Dasyurus maculatus (Tiger Quoll)2
Dasyurus viverrinus (Eastern Quoll)1
Vulpes vulpes (Red Fox)1

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5Cercartetus lepidus (Diprotodontia: Burramyidae), JAMIE M. HARRIS, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 842:1–8 (2009)
♦ 6Cercartetus nanus, JAMIE M. HARRIS, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 815:1–10 (2008)
♦ 7International Flea Database
♦ 8Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 9Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0