The Devil; Tasmanian Devil – Sacrophilus harrisii

Those in my generation all know the Taz from Bugs Bunny, but how many of us have sat down and learned about the creature that was his inspiration.  We are journeying today to the island of Tasmania.  It was once found in both Australia and Tasmania.    They are 24 to 30 inches long.  Devils weigh in at 20 to 24 lbs.  They are about the size of a terrier. They are the largest marsupial carnivore.   They are nocturnal by nature.   As a general rule, these creatures are scavangers but will take live prey.  They can hunt possums and wallabies.  They can also take insects and all sorts of other creatures.  Their jaws and teeth can crunch up the bones of dead and live caught prey.  An average devil has a lifespan of 8 years.  Devils have a gestation period of 30 to 31 days.  The babies are born in a burrow.  Like all marsupials, the babies are born underdeveloped and must find one of the mother's 4 teats.  Mom will have 1 to 4 babies.  Babies are the size of rice when born.  Mom will carry the babies for 3 months in the pouch.  At some point, mom will carry the babies on her back.  When the babies are at 6 to 7 months old, the mother lets them go off on their own.  At two years of age, the young devils reach adulthood and enter the wilds.  Sadly, the devils are facing a disease that is at the time of the publishing of my source was proving to be something of a mystery.  It was eating away the face of the animals.

While on the subject of disease, I wanted to talk about a few problems we can face when we have pets.  First off is rabies is carried by a few wild animals and any cat or dog that may mess with an infected animal.  I don't want to scare you but it's commonly found in animals that occur in many of our neighborhoods;  animals such as bats, skunks, raccoons, and foxes.  If you know that your pet has encountered an animal off this list get them to a vet.  Also, don't assume that every single animal on this list in your neighborhood is a carrier.  You should also have your animal already protected against rabies by getting the vaccine.   You should know that rabies strikes in stages.  I'll a great site that talks about rabies.  Basically, if your dog or cat begins to show any sign of personality shift after encountering any of the animals on this list or an another dog or cat that you suspect might have rabies.  PLEASE take your animal in to see a vet.  With rabies, death can come in very quick time, about a week to a week and half.    Another disease that I want to address is distemper.  Again, it's a disease that can be spread through the air or I assume by contact.  It's also preventable by getting your animal a vaccine.  Again, you are looking at a disease that affects dogs.   This disease can be contracted by dogs wild and pets, raccoons, and ferrets.  You can look up symptoms on this site.  Looking this over, distemper is a horrid way to die.  PLEASE AGAIN GET YOUR DOG vaccinated.   Lastly, I want to talk about heartworm.  Heartworm as many of you may already know is spread by mosquitoes.  How many of you know that cats can also get heartworm?  Did you know that it takes fewer heartworms to actually kill a cat?  All of these diseases or even the parasite is preventable.  Take the time to educate yourself and protect your pets.

Now, it's my time to talk to you about wildlife encounters.  Only this time, I want to talk to you about creating your own wildlife encounter.  You can experience the joys of wildlife in your yard.  All you need to do is to provide shelter in the form of trees and shrubs.  Food, it can be as simple as a bird-feeder or a hummingbird feeder.  You can also plant some plants that will produce berries as well as flowers that may attract both hummingbirds and butterflies.  You might also try providing water in some form.  These methods provide you with a great way to encourage wildlife into your yard.  I've had some unique encounters from the comfort of a chair.  More on that later on!  Talk to you later!