When we would witness the Tasmanian devil, he would often be a solitary seeming creature, preferring to hunt down his prey by himself. But is this true for real Tasmanian devils too?
If you want to find out more about the behavioral habits of Tasmanian devils, including whether or not they live in groups, look no further.
So, let’s jump straight into the first question, do Tasmanian devils like to live in groups? The simple answer is, no, Tasmanian devils do not live in groups.
Instead they are incredibly solitary animals, and prefer to live by themselves, away from other animals of the same species.
There are, however, some occasions where they will group together, keep reading below to find out more.
Do They Eat In Groups?
The very few occasions when Tasmanian devils will group together, is when they eat. Sometimes they will hunt their prey together, biting and ripping into the prey with their large, ferocious teeth.
Most of the time however, because they are scavengers, Tasmanian devils will mainly eat the carcasses of animals that have been left over.
Because they’re not picky eaters, to say the least, Tasmanian devils will consume the entirety of the animal carcass, including the organs, hair, and even the bones.
When they devour their prey, they will do so in large numbers, and there will be a series of grunting, screeching and gurgling noises as they do so.
They don’t like to share food, so they may compete with each other over who gets to eat each part of the carcass.
When they eat, they will consume around 40 percent of their body weight, as they gorge on the food until they’re unable to eat any more.
If they don’t like to live in groups, where does the Tasmanian devil live its solitary life? Although they used to be found all over Australia, Tasmanian devils are now exclusive to Tasmania.
They enjoy living in extremely hot and dry climates, (see also: Animals That Live In Hot Climates)like coastal woodlands, or sclerophyll forests. For those of you who don’t know what sclerophyll is, it’s essentially a dry, treeless area.
When they sleep, they like to do so in burrows, or under caves or rocks, where they are safe from any predators.
Do Tasmanian Devils Fight Each Other?
Tasmanian devils are known to be particularly ruthless when it comes to other members of their species.
In fact, the Tasmanian devil is known to fight another member of the species more than any other in the animal kingdom.
When they fight, this is usually a last resort, and the Tasmanian devil will have a number of different tactics that they will use to try to scare the other away first.
One of the first things that they’ll do is turn their ears a crimson color, to signal that they’re ready for confrontation. Interestingly, this is one of the features that earned them the name ‘devil’.
After they’ve done this, they will emit a powerful and potent odor that is meant to intimidate the opponent.
As well as this, they will begin to sneeze, which is another signal that they’re prepared to fight.
If this fails, they’ll then begin to make their signature noises, which consist of screeches and grunts, as well as opening their mouths wide and showing their powerful teeth.
If all else fails, the Tasmanian devils will engage in a fight, where they both use their teeth to try and kill each other.
How Do Tasmanian Devils Mate?
Although Tasmanian devils are solitary creatures that like to live alone without being disturbed by other members of their species, they do come together to mate.
This usually happens around the springtime, and they will be incredibly active during this period of time.
The males and females will swarm around each other during March, and this will continue until all the females are impregnated.
The mating ritual conducted by Tasmanian devils is one of the strangest and most unique of all the animal kingdom.
There is a rigorous process that the males have to undergo in order to win the approval of the females.
The females will sit back and watch as the males compete for who gets to mate with her. They will fight viciously amongst each other until a victor has been found, but this isn’t the end.
Before the female will allow the male to mate with her, first they must have a wrestling match.
These wrestling matches can be incredibly enthralling to watch, and they can get incredibly intense and noisy.
Both the males and females emit a grunting and screeching noise as they wrestle each other, and they will continue to fight one another until somebody wins.
The female is the one who decides whether or not the Tasmanian devil male was victorious, and she will signal whether he has won or not by either allowing or not allowing him to mate with her.
The Tasmanian devils will also have a number of different partners during the mating season. Males will mate with a series of different females, and females will mate with a series of different males.
Interestingly, the female is able to carry the children of several different Tasmanian devil males all at once. So, she may have 30 babies, all of which have different fathers.
Why Are They Called Tasmanian Devils?
Some of you reading this article may be wondering where the name Tasmanian devil actually came from. It actually dates back to early European settlers who found themselves in Tasmania.
During the night, they heard strange noises emitting from a bush, they described them as being unearthly screeches, and upon investigating, they found a black creature with crimson ears.
It is because of these shrieks, as well as the chilling way that they devoured their prey with their large teeth, that the European settlers decided to name them Tasmanian devils.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, Tasmanian devils do not like to live in groups. In fact, they are actually incredibly solitary creatures that don’t like to mix with others in their species.
One of the few times that they will come together throughout the year is when they scavenge on carcasses.
As well as this, Tasmanian devils will also group together during the spring, as this is the mating season for the species.
Hi, I’m Olivia Kepner and I am a zookeeper here in San Diego. Since I was a young girl I have always been fascinated by animals and species across the globe.
I used to beg my parents to take me to our local zoo every single weekend. Well, I say local – it was more like a two hour drive away. But they took me as much as they could, allowing me to fall in love with the animals again and again.
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