Tasmanian Wildlife

Tasmania has many unique mammals found nowhere else in the world. Some, like the Tasmanian devil and Tasmanian tiger are well-known. Others, such as the eastern quoll, pademelon and bettong are less well-known, but equally fascinating. Like most of Australia's mammals, the Tasmanian mammal fauna comprises many marsupials, or pouched mammals. Marsupials are remarkable for their method of reproduction, such as the production of very tiny young which complete their development in a pouch.

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), offensive odour when stressed, loud and disturbing screeching, and vicious temperament. The Devil survived European settlement and until recently was widespread and fairly common throughout Tasmania.

By 2005, the Tasmanian Devil population has been reduced by about 90 percent in many areas of Tasmania by the "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 are caused by a virus spread by fighting between devils - typically, fighting devils will bite one another's faces.

Some have claimed that the tumours may be caused by uptake of poisons (aerially-sprayed herbicides, and 1080 - sodium monofluoroacetate) that Forestry Tasmania has been using to destroy weeds and so-called pest mammals in plantation forests, but devils with tumours have also been found in areas where no poisoning takes place.

Bennetts wallaby

The Bennetts wallaby is one of Tasmania's most commonly seen native animals. The species is also widespread in the southeast of mainland Australia, where it is known as the red-necked wallaby. Visitors to most of our national parks are highly likely to encounter these animals during their stay.

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Echidna

Echidna can be found across Australia, their habitat includes forests, woodlands, shrublands and grasslands, rocky outcrops and agricultural lands. Echidnas are usually found among rocks, in hollow logs, under vegetation or piles of debris, under tree roots or sometimes in wombat or rabbit burrows.

Close range viewing: *Flinders Island; Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton; ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Eastern Quoll

The Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), also known as the Eastern Native Cat, is a medium-sized carnivorous dasyurid marsupial native to Australia. They are now considered extinct on the mainland, but remain widespread and even locally common in Tasmania. It is one of six extant species of quoll. The Eastern Quoll is generally about the size of a small domestic cat. The Eastern Quoll is a solitary predator, hunting at night for its prey of insects and small mammals. They have also been known to scavenge food from the much larger Tasmanian Devil.

Close range viewing: Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Kangaroos (eastern grey)

The eastern grey kangaroo can often been seen in bushland, farmland and beside roads throughout its habitat - the eastern coastlines of Australia, all of Queensland with the exception of western Cape York, New South Wales, and parts of Tasmania, most notably the north eastern portion. Most Australian zoos, wildlife parks and sanctuaries have kangaroos on display in enclosures.

Close range viewing: Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton; ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Pademelon

The Pademelons are small, compact, short-tailed wallabies that typically inhabit wet sclerophyll and rainforests from Tasmania to New Guinea. The Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii), also known as the rufous-bellied pademelon or red-bellied pademelon, is the sole species of pademelon found in Tasmania, and was formerly found throughout south-eastern Australia. This pademelon has developed heavier and bushier fur than its northern relatives, who inhabit northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. The species is abundant and widespread throughout Tasmania.

Pademelons are solitary and nocturnal, spending the daylight hours in thick vegetation. Rainforest, sclerophyll forest, and scrubland[4] are preferred, although wet gullies in dry open eucalyptus forest are also used. Such places, next to open areas where feeding can occur, are especially favoured. After dusk, the animals move onto open areas to feed, but rarely stray more than 100 metres from the forest edge.

Close range viewing: ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Common Ringtail Possum

Like all ringtail possums, the common ringtail possum has a strongly prehensile tail which acts as a fifth limb, and which is carried tightly coiled when not being used. It can be distinguished from the brushtail by the light covering of fur on its tail, as well as the white tail tip. It is widespread throughout Tasmania, where it occurs in a variety of vegetation types, especially eucalypt forests and areas of tall, dense tea-tree.

Close range viewing: Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton; ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Hairy Nosed Wombats

Southern hairy-nosed wombats inhabit the semi-arid and arid grasslands and woodlands in south-western New South Wales. Northern hairy-nosed wombats used to be abundant in New South Wales until the settlement of Europeans in the area, but have been rarely seen after 1872. Zoos and wildlife sanctuaries are the only places you are guaranteed to see a wonbat in Tasmania.

Close range viewing: Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton; ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Tammar Wallaby

The tammar wallaby, also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia as well as some nearby islands. This species is largely gray in colour and is the smallest wallaby. The tammar wallabies on Flinders Island are distinguished from Kangaroo Island tammars by their greyer coats and thinner heads. On Kangaroo Island, tammar wallabies can be found under divaricating bushes. They are mosly nocturnal and send much of the time foraging.

Close range viewing: *Flinders Island; Bonorong Park Wildlife Centre, Brighton; ZooDoo Wildlife Park, Richmond; Trowunna Wildlife Park, Mole Creek; Wings Wildlife Park, Gunns Plains; Something Wild wildlife sanctuary, National Park; East Coast Nature World, Bicheno.

Platypus

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an egg-laying, semi-aquatic mammal that lives in Tasmania and along the eastern coast of mainland Australia. It occupies a wide range of habitats from alpine streams and ponds that freeze in winter, to the tepid waters of tropical north Queensland. It uses electro-receptors in its rubbery bill to find food on the bottom of freshwater streams, lakes and ponds.

The platypus is characterised by a soft, toothless rubbery bill, webbed feet, fur and a single external opening to the urinary, digestive and reproductive tracts. This iconic mammal was so weird that when specimens first reached Europe at the end of the 19th century they were considered fakes. Since that time platypuses have continued to fascinate scientists and the public alike. Although many people have never seen one in the wild (due to their secretive and often nocturnal habits), most Australians strongly support their conservation.

In Tasmania, platypus are widely spread across the state and are common in the lakes of the Central Highlands as well as the rivers and streams of the south, south-west and north-west coasts.

Marine wildlife

Seals and Sea Lions

Thirty five species of seal inhabit the oceans of the world. They are found throughout the marine environment, from icy polar waters to the warm waters of the tropics. A number of species occasionally visit Tasmania's shores, however only two species - the Australian Fur Seal and the New Zealand Fur Seal - breed in Tasmanian waters. Four species of seal once bred in Tasmania's Bass Strait, three of these species were totally eradicated and only the Australian fur seal now remains in Bass Strait.

Close range viewing: *Bruny Island; *King Island; Maatsuyker Island group; Bass Strait islands; Maria Island; Freycinet Peninsula

Fairy Penguins

Fairy or Little Penguins are attractive birds, they waddle around in small groups in search of food or playing. They stand about 45cm tall, and weigh around a kilogram. Found only in Australia and New Zealand, they are fairly common in the waters of southern Australia. They breed mainly on offshore islands from Port Stephens, NSW, to as far as Fremantle, WA.

Close range viewing: *The Neck, Bruny Island; Bicheno; north-west coast around Devonport, Burnie, Penguin and Stanley. Fairy Penguins can be seen year-round but the main breeding season is spring and summer (November to March in Tasmania).

Fairy Penguin Colonies Of North West Tasmania

Southern Elephant Seals

Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are the largest of all seals with males reaching 4-5 m in length and 3 500 kg in weight. Southern elephant seals once bred in Tasmania on King Island but were wiped out by the sealing industry. Each year in Tasmania an average of three elephant seals are reported. The closest breeding area of elephant seals is Macquarie Island. Here, there is an estimated population of 86,000 animals.

Close range viewing: *Bruny Island; *Maatsuyker Island; *Macquarie Island

Bottlenose Dolphins

The most frequently seen cetaceans are the common and bottle-nosed dolphins. Whale and dolphin watching is one of Tasmania’s most popular tourist activities, and many companies offer chartered trips that provide intimate encounters with these animals along the east and south-east coast. Although dolphins often initiate contact with humans directly, it is important not to disturb cetaceans by approaching closely.

Close range viewing: coastal cruises, partcularly those around Bruny, Tasman and Maria Islands and the Tasman and Freycinet Peninsulas, regularly see dolphins.

Whales

Among the larger species of baleen whale, southern right whales and humpback whales can be seen at east coast vantage points such as Great Oyster Bay, Bruny Island and Frederick Henry Bay. While most species migrate some distance off the continental shelf, the humpback and southern right whale come sufficiently close to the coast to allow regular sightings from land. Humpback whales travel northward to breeding areas off the coast of Queensland and Western Australia between May and July and return southward to their sub-antarctic feeding grounds between September and November.

Southern right whales travel north from June to September to the waters of southern mainland Australia and return southward between September and late October. A proportion of the population gives birth in Tasmanian waters. Most sightings occur on the east coast.

About Australian Mammals

Birds

Many birds of the Australian mainland and Southern Ocean also occur in Tasmania. Tasmania has 12 endemic bird species: four honeyeaters (family Melaphagidae) - the yellow wattlebird (world's largest honeyeater) and the yellow-throated, black-headed and strong-billed honeyeaters; 3 Australo-Papuan warblers (family Acanthizidae) - the Tasmanian thornbill, the scrubtit and the Tasmanian scrubwren; 1 pardalote (family Pardalotidae) - the rare and endangered forty-spotted pardalote; 1 old-world flycatcher (family Muscicapidae) - the dusky robin; 1 corvid (family Corvidae) - the black currawong; 1 parrot (family Psittacidae) - the green rosella; and 1 rail (family Rallidae) - the Tasmanian native hen, Australia's only flightless bird other than the giant ratites (emu and southern cassowary). The endemic Tasmanian Emu was exterminated in the mid-1800s.

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Extinct Tasmanian Species

Illustration: courtesy University of Tasmania

The Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger)

The island of Tasmania was home to the Thylacine, a marsupial equivalent of a wild dog (dingo). 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.

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A watercolour by William Porden Kay depicts emus at Stanley during the 1840s. (Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania)

The Tasmanian Emu

Like the Tasmanian Tiger, there are no emus in Tasmania any more as it is now extinct. The Tasmania Emu, after which the river and the bay on which Burnie stands were named, is believed to have been a smaller sub-species of the mainland emu. The external characters used to distinguish it were its whitish instead of a black foreneck and throat and an unfeathered neck.

The Tasmanian Indigenous people’s sustainable relationship with the emu also suggests emu population numbers were significant. The Tasmanian emu was regularly symbolised in Indigenous art, in their ceremonies it was common practice for Tasmanian Aborigines to dance and characterise emus by stretching out one arm to emulate the long neck of the bird. Feathers were used to decorate inside Aboriginal huts, and served as insulation and floor coverings.

The indigenous people used a substance called ‘patener’, made from a ground metal mixed with emu fat/oil, to mark their heads and bodies. Emus featured in stories and songs, and there were many different names for them, including gonanner, ponanner and tooteyer. There are many references to the emu in early colonial records too, with many place names recalling it, eg. Emu Hill, Emu Heights, Emu Point.

Like the Tasmanian Aborigines with whom it had co-existed for thousands of years, the Tasmanian emu suffered a calamiltous fate with the arrival of white man. By the time of Henry Hellyer's encounter with emus at Emu Bay in 1827 when he named the bay after them because of their significant numbers, southern Tasmania's emu population was already in decline and within 40 years the species would be extinct. Though Emu Bay was once a stronghold for these flightless birds, their populations also diminished quickly after white settlers moved in. When the Burnie settlement was surveyed in 1846, the Tasmanian Emu was almost gone. The species survived in the wild until 1865, and the last captive bird died in 1873.

During those years, land was being cleared at an astronomical rate. The emu's habitat was quickly destroyed to make way for grazing land for sheep. By 1840, there were 280,000 sheep in Tasmania.

The introduction of dogs is also considered a major contributing factor to the fast extinction of the Tasmanian emu. Though it was a really important food source for the Aboriginal people who hunted emus, it was in relatively low numbers. Emus were pretty hard to catch, they were fast runners and could defend themselves. That all changed with the introduction of the domestic dog. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Van Diemen’s Land did not have a domestic dog, nor was the dingo present. But the Europeans had dogs and guns and that combination proved deadly for the emu and hastened its extinction.