FP trendMay 27, 2021 7:48:44 PM
After being bombarded with a barrage of bad news about biodiversity extinction, we finally have wonderful news from the wilderness of Australia. For the first time in 3,000 years, Tasmanian devils were born in the wild Down Under. The population of these marsupials according to a report on CNN, had declined following the arrival of the wild dog species known as dingoes on the mainland. Their numbers were further reduced because they became victims of Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD). Since its discovery in 1996, DFTD has killed 90 percent of the Tasmanian Devil’s population.
For the first time in 3,000 years, Tasmanian devils were born in the wild in Australia. Photo credit: Flickr / Mathias Appel
Tasmanian devils are carnivorous marsupial and have a coarse coat of black or brown fur. They look like baby bears, but they either have a white stripe or a spot on their body. They have an average lifespan of up to five years in the wild. There are currently only 25,000 devils living in the wild in Tasmania, compared to the 150,000 devils that existed before the disease.
A few months ago, conservation groups in Australia released up to 26 adult Tasmanian devils into the wild on mainland Australia.
“When (the devils) were back in the wild, it was up to them which was nerve-wracking,” said Tim Faulkner, president of the Aussie Ark.
Now the groups have discovered that seven marsupials were born in Barrington Tops, north of Sydney. reported Phys.Org.
A coalition of conservation groups working with Aussie Ark has kept an eye on these marsupials from afar. They only entered to confirm the birth of the first wild joeys, which occurred a few months after their release.
When Don Church, the president of Re: wild – another conservation group – spoke about the development, he said that the birth of the marsupials shows that the reintroduction project is working.
“This bodes well not only for this endangered species, but also for the many other endangered species that can be saved if we revitalize Australia, the country with the world’s worst mammal extinction rate,” he added.
