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Sarcophilus harrisii
This photo was taken at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, Australia, they are only native to Tasmania not the mainland of Australia. 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 the strongest bite per unit body mass of any living mammal
Spotted on Jun 13, 2011
Submitted on Jun 13, 2011
19 Comments
OH MY GOODNESS tasmanian devils are my favorite animals in the whole wide world this is such a cute photo thanks you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:-)
Yes, you would capitalize Devil, if you were referring to the one in the bible. You would also capitalize Devil's claw, since that is named after said Devil. Our local critters are merely devilish. ;)
ah but wouldn't devil be capitalized because its the name of a biblical character? (not that it really matters :-) )
Darren, it has to do with the rules of English. Animal names are not proper nouns, therefore red-neck wallaby is not capitalized, but Bennett's wallaby is because Bennett is a proper (a person's) name (even though both names refer to the same critter). If Tasmanian was not a proper noun, you would write tasmanian devil. But Tasmanian is a proper noun, so it is capitalized. Of course, the first letter of a spotting in capitalized because it is the start of a sentence (fragment).
Healesville Sanctuary is a great place, they do a wonderful job..
I will change the title I didn't know the word devil is never capitalized, i wonder why that is?
I've heard great things about Healesville, and must get there someday soon. They are part of the insurance breeding program that will hopefully never be needed (should, heaven forbid, Devil Facial Tumor Disease wipe out the wild devils). The decision was made a few years ago to send more devils to the mainland, just in case, because no one really knows what caused the tumors in the first place.
By the way, the word devil, as in Tasmanian devil, is never capitalized.
I love these little guys :)
No problem. I do that with my spottings to avoid confusion about what is native to the area, or normal behavior for natives.
Unfortunately, the only wild devils I've seen where I live have been roadkill.
No worries lori.tas (sorry I forgot about that)
They are sooo cool.. I would love to see one of them!
Darren, can you please add the name of the wildlife park you took this in. I don't want people to start thinking that Tasmanian devils live in Victoria, or that they are normally awake during the day. Even in Tasmania, I've only seen them in wildlife parks.
Thanks for the info and video Darren. You are right about the sound + dead dark night...
here is a link to its lovely sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4CpilTq...
Thanks Aman,
Ilya Bezdelev they are called Devils because of the sound they make..
if you didn't know what was making the sound and you heard it in the dead of night, you would never sleep again it is damned scary sounding
Thank you for the description notes and the lovely snap as well.
I am wondering why they are called devils. He ain't an angel but still very adorable :)
they sure are, thanks for the favorite
Moody little things..:-)