How big is a Tasmanian devil? Zoos give a devil's weight as about 5 to 14 kilograms (11 to 30 pounds). Animal Diversity Web gives male devil weight as 5.5 to 12 kg and female weight as 4.1 to 8.1 kg, while the Australian Government's species profile gives a devil's typical weight as 7.7 to 13.0 kg for males and 4.5 to 9 kg for females. A zoo or museum lists a devil's body length as about 55 to 65 centimeters. Animal Diversity Web gives a devil's total length as 525 to 800 mm and its tail length as 230 to 300 mm. Large devils stand about 30 centimeters high at the shoulder.
The Tasmanian government says devils have been 'clocked' running on a flat road at nearly 25 km/h for up to 1 km. It says they can run at 10 km/h for many kilometres. A devil may travel as far as 16 kilometers (10 miles) in one night looking for food. Animal Diversity Web says a devil travels an average of 3.2 km in a night within a relatively small home range. A San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance library fact sheet, citing a 2008 study, says a tracked male devil was recorded travelling 50 km (31.1 miles) in 48 hours.
Devils mostly eat animals that have already died. They prefer to eat carrion because they do not have to spend energy hunting it, but when there is little carrion they will actively hunt. Besides eating dead animals, devils hunt live prey such as small mammals and birds. Devils are gorge feeders, and if a devil is not interrupted, it can eat up to 40 per cent of its body weight in 30 minutes. On average a devil eats about 12 per cent of its body weight a day in the wild, so a big meal could keep it going for about three days. By eating dead animals, devils help keep the bush clean.
A devil's jaws and teeth do hard work. Its 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. How hard can a devil bite? The Tasmanian government says there is no good measurement of how hard a devil can bite, but that a 10 kg devil has a bite as powerful as a 40 kg dog.
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. It is one of only a small number of recorded cancers that can spread from animal to animal like a contagious disease. 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.
Here is how the story of devils has gone over time. Fossils show that Tasmanian devils once lived on the Australian mainland. They disappeared from it about 3,500 years ago, long before Europeans arrived. In the 1830s bounties were offered for devils. Tasmania protected them by law in 1941.
Here is how people have helped devils. The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, an initiative of the Australian and Tasmanian governments, was set up in 2003. Australian zoos help 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, and baby devils are called imps. Her pouch has only four teats, so no more than four babies can stay in it. 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
- carrion: dead animals
- gorge: eat a lot
- insurance: safe backup
- bounties: paid rewards
- weaned: off mother's milk
