OneBigBone

I’m sure everyone knows The Tasmanian Devil of Looney Toons, or rather the more familiar name - Taz.

Taz

Taz is one of my favorite Looney Toons characters and when I was small. I used to imitate Taz’s ” tornado spin that destroys everything in it’s path.

The only difference is that I get so giddy way before i can destroy anything. The next thing i know i would be lying flat on the floor looking at my ceiling spin.

But many do not know much about the animal that inspired the creation of the Taz character.

Mini bear

The Tasmanian Devil, scientific name Sarcophilus hrrisii, is the largest carnivorous marsupial that can only be found in the Australian state of Tasmania, hence it’s name.

The Tasmanian Devil is about the size of a small dog, stocky and muscular which stands at 30cm shoulder height. Covered in black fur with white marking on it’s rump and chest, it has a relatively large head, a powerful jaw armed with razor sharp teeth and short thick tail.

It’s yawn, often mistaken as aggressive expression

It used to roam on the mainland Australia some 400 hundred years ago, way before the European colonial explorers reach the shores of Australia. It’s extirpation (local extinction) was because the Aboriginal people introduced dingos that lead to the sad fate of the devils on the mainland.

Today, the devils still roam wild on Tasmanian island as the 240km wide Bass Strait which halted the spread of dingos from entering.

Being nocturnal, the devil earned it’s name from the European settlers as the devils often haunted them at night with it’s spine chilling screeches, demonic growls and reputed bad-temper.

Click here to listen to it’s screeches. My advice to you is to turn your volume knob down.

Although having only the size of a small dog it can look and sound incredibly fierce. When stressed it released a strong odor that can rival the fart of a skunk.

Despite that, the devil is actually a shy and wary creature.

This is aggresion

Long ago, the devils were hunted widely by European settlers for bounties provided by poultry farmer which lead to a drastic decrease of its population on Tasmania. In 1942, The Australian government declared the Tasmanian Devil as a protected species, only then the population of the devils slowly climb back.

However today, the devils a plague with a disease. They are now vulnerable to cancer.

You heard me right, CANCER.

Its called the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). First identified in 1996, DFTD is a disease where cancerous tumor cells start to grow on the devil’s mouth and head, sometimes spreading to different parts of it’s body. It spreads through biting of devil to devil. Once infected, lesions start to grow. Usually when it’s visible, it’s as good as writing the poor devil’s name in death note over the next 3 to 8 months.

Ever since then, there has been a 64% dive in the devils monitored population.

A research program - Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, has been initiated to investigate the disease and identify management options. To date, they have identified what was the leading cause that lead to DFTD.

It was evident from the research that a lack of genetic diversity among Tasmanian devils is a key factor in the transmission of DFTD and there are on going trials to determine a vaccine to prevent or cure these deadly disease.

In May 2008, given the circumstances the Tasmanian Devil has been formally upgraded to endangered under Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act. Previously it was classified as “vulnerable”.

Now you know. Hope this post have instilled some awareness on these rare devils.

Happymah!

Info and pictures taken from tigerbear, Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania, wikipedia, DPIW and tassiedevil.com.au.

Jumpstart: You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.

What’s Your Problem?

I got bloody bitten by a cat just now.

And it’s no big fierce cat, it’s just a small little stray kitten. With VERY sharp teeth.

Now i got 2 big holes on my hand, exactly like a snake bite.

My name is bao ching cat

It all happened just because that I wanted to “removed” the cat from my house for good. No worries, when i meant remove i mean to take it and dump it another place so it wont come back.

The cats, first started with the mother sneaking in to our kitchen and digging in our rubbish bin day in and night out.

Then the situation went from bad to worst when she gave birth to 3 kittens early in the year.

And ever since then, the family of four keep us busy with our brooms cleaning up after their feast.

And so, just when i came back home from pasar malam, my housemate was in the midst of cleaning up the mess again, I went and check one of the corners of the living room and found three of the farn-tastic four hiding underneath the cushion.

Immediately i launch “operasi kick-the-cats-out-for-good”.

cat god

Apparently, the was one small kitten that managed to sneak out before i came home. And now, there hiding was the mother and 2 little kittens.

I managed to catch hold of the first kitten behind its neck, then suddenly it started to get panicked and i kind of lost grip on it.

It was then that it turn it’s small little head and took a bite of my hand. Soon enough, blood was kind of gently flowing out like how tooth paste came out from the tube.

At the end of the day, after a much tedious hide and seek, i managed to catch the 2 kittens and with the mother cat managed to escape through the kitchen window. And i, had to go to the clinic for 2nd injection for animal inflicted injuries.

There goes RM35.

Damit!~

Evolution!!!

After that, me and my gf drop them of at a near my shop lots that have lots of malay and mamak stalls. And when we came back, we saw the mama cat was around searching for it’s 2 kittens.

One of the kittens that i relocated actually looks kind of cute.

Too bad it has to end this way.