Tasmanian devil joeys born last year as part of a semi-wild breeding program on mainland Australia have shown positive signs after undergoing their first health checks, curators say.
Not-for-profit environmental organisation Aussie Ark first released 28 Tasmanian devils into a wildlife sanctuary at Barrington Tops, north of Sydney, in 2020.
Aussie Ark curator Kelly Davis said the 2022 joeys were coming up to their first birthdays and undergoing their very first check-ups.
She said the program's joeys and adults were captured in a "seasonal audit", making it a good opportunity to ensure all their newest additions were healthy and happy.
"We weigh them, look at their overall health and check pouches of females," Ms Davis said.
Each joey gets an overall health score and has their photo taken.
Ms Davis says an important step is to determine the parentage of each joey to confirm the population's genetic diversity.
"Tasmanian devils inherently have quite a low genetic diversity," she said.
"You have a genetic bottleneck when Tasmania broke away from mainland Australia, and then again during European settlement where they were heavily persecuted.
"It really is important to maintain that genetic diversity, because when it's low, that's when you get various mutations going on in a wild population."
Creating an 'insurance population'
Tasmanian devils have not lived in the wild on mainland Australia for over 3,000 years, largely due to the introduction of dingoes.
The spread of a highly contagious and fatal form of cancer, known as the devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), has also killed up to 90 per cent of the wild population in Tasmania.
Aussie Ark's program aimed to build an "insurance population" of devils on the mainland, away from DFTD, to help conserve the endangered species.
Ms Davis said it was an "exciting time" for the Barrington Tops facility, with all devils to be moved into a different breeding enclosure in preparation for the 2023 season.
She said a 2022 joey was named Sandy, or Sandra Dee, after the character played by the late Olivia Newton-John in the film, Grease.
Behaviour caught on camera
As part of the health checks, Aussie Ark's new camera-trap footage has recorded some intimate Tasmanian devil family moments.
"It's pretty incredible footage, probably some of the coolest devil footage I've witnessed," Ms Davis said.
The hidden cameras captured joeys interacting with each other and their mothers outside their dens.
"They're playing in front of the den, they're climbing on mum's back, mum's bringing back some food and some nesting material," Ms Davis said.
"It's just a whole array of really cool behaviours."
Tasmanian devils are typically solitary but females can look after up to four joeys at once.
"People see devils as being these really aggressive, horrible animals, but they actually make tremendous mums," Ms Davis said.
"They protect their joeys very fiercely. It's really very sweet."
Once the joeys reach about 2 kilograms, they will be put into a holding pen before being released into a managed environmental enclosure.
