How does a devil sense the world, and how has its story changed? Start with the animal. Devils are dasyurids. They are in the family Dasyuridae, of the order Dasyuromorphia. This is the group of carnivorous marsupials. Quolls, numbats, dunnarts and the dibbler are among their relatives. The Tasmanian devil is the biggest meat-eating marsupial alive.

Wild devils live on the island of Tasmania, which is part of Australia. By day, devils rest in dens in hollow logs, caves or old wombat burrows. A devil looks like a small, stocky dog.

Devils are nocturnal. This means they are active after dark. A devil has a keen sense of smell that it uses to find food. Its hearing is excellent. It seems to be the co-dominant sense along with its sense of smell. Devils also have many long whiskers, in clumps above the eyes and on the muzzle. The whiskers help them forage in the dark. They also help them judge their spacing from one another when feeding together.

The Tasmanian government counts at least eleven distinct devil sounds, including a snort, a bark, a screech and a sneeze. They make loud growls and screeches when several of them feed together. A devil's wide, threatening-looking yawn shows fear and uncertainty more than anger. Devils also leave droppings at shared latrine sites. These act as messages. A devil can learn which other devils are nearby, including their sex and breeding status.

Devils usually live alone, but several may feed at the same dead animal. A devil may travel as far as 16 kilometers (10 miles) in one night looking for food. The Tasmanian government says devils have been 'clocked' running on a flat road at nearly 25 km/h for up to 1 km, and can run at 10 km/h for many kilometres.

Devils mostly eat animals that have already died. Besides eating dead animals, devils hunt live prey such as small mammals and birds. By eating dead animals, devils help keep the bush clean.

Devils are gorge feeders. They eat a large amount of food at one time. If it is not interrupted, a devil can eat up to 40 per cent of its body weight in 30 minutes. A devil's big head and heavy teeth are made for crushing bone. Its strong jaws and teeth let it eat nearly all of its food, even bones and fur.

Devils have a long history. Fossils show that Tasmanian devils once lived on the Australian mainland. Devils disappeared from the mainland about 3,500 years ago, long before Europeans arrived. In the 1830s bounties were offered for devils. Over the next century devils became very rare. Tasmania protected devils by law in 1941, and their numbers slowly rose.

Devil facial tumour disease was first detected in 1996. It is a cancer that is believed to spread from one devil to another through biting. As of November 2026, surveys that count devils seen at night show about 80 per cent fewer devils across most of Tasmania since the disease appeared.

The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program was set up in 2003. It is an initiative of the Australian and Tasmanian governments. It began after a national workshop of specialists on the decline of devils due to the facial tumour disease. Australian zoos help the program by breeding devils as an insurance population. As of November 2026, the record shows that devils bred at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria were released in 2013, 2015 and 2017 to places free of the tumour disease on Maria Island and the Tasman Peninsula.

A baby devil grows inside its mother for only about 21 days before it is born. Newborn devils are tiny, about the size of a grain of rice. A mother devil carries her babies in a pouch for about four months. Her pouch has only four teats, so no more than four babies can stay in it. Baby devils are called imps. The Tasmanian government says young devils are weaned at five to six months old, when they weigh around 3 kg. Devils become adults at about two years old, and young devils usually leave their mothers and live on their own by about December.

Words to know

• dasyurids: meat-eating marsupials
• latrine: shared dropping spot
• marsupials: pouched animals
• bounties: paid rewards
• weaned: off mother's milk
• insurance: safe backup