Ollie’s Animals of Tasmania

Tasmanian Devil
Is a small carnivore and can have up to four babies. We saw them at Devils@Cradle, a conservation park that is trying to stop the Devils from getting wiped out by a face cancer that is spreading throughout Tasmania. There is no cure, just isolation. They were named devils by the first settlers after the terrible screeching noise they make at night.

Platypus
This small beaver-like mammal with a duck-like bill is one of the only two monotremes in the world. This means they lay eggs. We went to see some that had been rescued at the Platypus House, at Beauty Point. They are rare and hard to see in the wild, but they are not endangered. The best place for seeing the is at dusk on the edges of the river bank. The males have two poisonous spurs on their ankles, used for fighting. Females lose these when they are young.

Short-Beaked Echidna
This spiky animal is also called a spiny anteater, and is the other monotreme. It lays one egg at a time and then feeds its young through milk patches underneath its legs. We got to be inside the Echidna enclosure where three friendly Echidna’s were waddling all around your feet. It was very cute when it came and sat on my foot and snuffled around looking for food.

Wombat

We saw these fat creatures wandering across the fields in Cradle Mountain National Park. They carry their young a backwards facing pouch so that when they are digging they do not fill their pouch up with dirt (but the babies don’t have a very good view!). We also saw lots of Wombat Poo when we were hiking. This peculiar shaped poo is cubical even though they have a very round bottom. They like to poo up high to mark their territory. Cameron and I heard one scratching around underneath our cabin at night.

Eastern Quolls
This cat-sized carnivore is under threat by loss of territory, foxes and dingos, owls and trapping. They are now extinct on mainland Australia since 1962. They are nocturnal (hunt at night) and have a spotted pelt. They had some at the Devils Conservation centre, to breed.

Lowland Copperhead Snake

This is an extremely poisonous snake . A bite from a fully grown adult, without medical assistance, would be fatal but they avoid humans if possible. We saw the snake sliding across the road and my Dad nearly hit it with the car. It was a
dark coppery colour with a yellow belly.
Pademelons

Tasmanian Pademelons

These are related to the wallaby, and look similar, but they are stockier. They are no longer found on the mainland. They are a source of
food for the Quolls and Tasmanian Devils, and were once an important food for the Tasmanian Tiger. 70% of all Pademelons are born at thebeginning of winter instead of spring. Dad and I saw loads of them at Taraleah when we went for a walk in the snow. There were also a lot dead on the side of the road.

Tasmanian Tiger

The last known Tasmanian Tiger died in 1936, and was declared extinct in 1986, although there have been supposed sightings of them on islands around Tasmania. They looked like a long dog with stripes on their back and were hunted by the early settlers for £1 each. They were nervous and some even died of shock when they were cornered or caught. But in comparison to mainland Australia, it is the only Tasmanian animal to become extinct.