Tasmania

The island of Tasmania, an Australian state, is located 240 km (150 miles) south of the eastern portion of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait. Tasmania has a population of 456,652 (census 2001) and an area of 68,332 km² (26 383 square miles). As at 31 March 2003, Tasmania's estimated resident population was 476,199. Tasmania has the nickname Apple Isle due to the large number of apples grown there.

Indigenous animals

Thylacine

The island of Tasmania was home to the Thylacine, a marsupial equivalent of a wild dog. Known colloquially as the Tasmanian Tiger because of the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct on mainland Australia much earlier because of the introduction of the dingo. Due to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters, and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it also appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The last known animal died in captivity in 1936. Many alleged sightings have been recorded, none of them confirmed.

Related Topics:
Thylacine - Dingo - 1936

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Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous marsupial found exclusively on the island of Tasmania. The size of a small dog but stocky and muscular, the Tasmanian Devil is characterised by its black fur with white patches. It has an offensive odour when stressed, performs a loud and disturbing screeching, and posesses a vicious temperament. The Devil survived European settlement and was considered widespread and fairly common throughout Tasmania until recently.

Related Topics:
Tasmanian Devil - Marsupial

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Like a lot of the wildlife, fast vehicles on the roads cause problems for the Tasmanian Devil.

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As of 2005 the Tasmanian Devil population has been reduced by about 90% in many areas of Tasmania by Devil facial tumour disease. It is believed the majority have died of starvation when the tumours have spread to their mouths and that the tumours spread by fighting between devils - typically, fighting devils will bite one another's faces.

Related Topics:
As of 2005 - Devil facial tumour disease

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Birds

Many birds of the Australian mainland and Southern Ocean also occur in Tasmania. Tasmania has 12 endemic bird species:

Related Topics:
Bird - Southern Ocean - Species

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4 honeyeaters (family Melaphagidae) - the yellow wattlebird (world's largest honeyeater) and the yellow-throated, black-headed and strong-billed honeyeaters;

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3 Australo-Papuan warblers (family Acanthizidae) - the Tasmanian thornbill, the scrubtit and the Tasmanian scrubwren;

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1 pardalote (family Pardalotidae) - the rare and endangered forty-spotted pardalote;

Related Topics:
Pardalotidae - Forty-spotted pardalote

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1 old-world flycatcher (family Muscicapidae) - the dusky robin;

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1 corvid (family Corvidae) - the black currawong;

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1 parrot (family Psittacidae) - the green rosella; and

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1 rail (family Rallidae) - the Tasmanian native hen, Australia's only flightless bird other than the giant ratites (emu and southern cassowary).

Related Topics:
Tasmanian native hen - Ratite - Emu - Southern cassowary

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The endemic Tasmanian Emu was exterminated in the mid-1800s.

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