1 min read

n Females give birth to about 50 young, or joeys, at a time. These then race to the mother’s rear pouch to attach themselves to one of four teats. Only one joey in a dozen will survive.

n They grow to only a foot high at the shoulder and to 25 pounds, but their powerful jaws enable them to consume entire cattle carcasses, including bones and fur.

n Their numbers in the wild have dropped by 64 percent from an estimated 140,000 since the Devil Facial Tumor Disease was discovered in 1996.

n Long the target of bounties, devils became a protected species in 1941 and were listed as endangered in 2008.

Sources: Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, San Diego Zoo.

Comments are no longer available on this story