Pictures

[Opsa]

Maybe they were going for the "safety in numbers" swimming idea. But they could have sat beside you, instead of in front. Maybe they wanted you to watch over them.

[The Meromorph]

I knew I should have taken my broom! 

[Zan]

Maybe they were going for the "safety in numbers" swimming idea. But they could have sat beside you, instead of in front. Maybe they wanted you to watch over them.

[Griffin NoName]

Nice one, Zan.

[Zan]

Nice one, Zan.

I am an inveterate photoshop junkie. Crackheads make fun of me for it, and tweakers look at me as if I'm one of their own.

[Bluenose]

Went to the Healesville Sanctuary yesterday,  the Tassie devils were out!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I love the pics, particularly the second one. Did you use a high zoom lens or you were dangerously close to the little monster?

[Bluenose]

I use a by today's standards relatively old 3.2 megapixel Fuji camera with a 6 x zoom.  Nothing special.  The sleeping devil was probably only about 5 or 6 metres away, the other would have been maybe 15 - 20 metres.

Mrs Blue works at the sanctuary as a volunteer guide and she says that according to the keepers the Tassie devils actually have a very sweet nature most of the time - the exceptions being at feeding time or during the breeding season.  They really are not dangerous to humans, despite their blood curdling calls when fighting.

Actually, it's their fighting that is the problem with the facial tumour disease.  The cancer is spread when the devils fight and bite each other fighting over food.  Apparently the cancer is all genetically identical and the scientists thin it probably arose in one devil some years ago and was spread from then by physical contact.  Weird.  The devils at the sanctuary are part of a major program to establish breeding refuge populations of disease free devils as an insurance policy against their becomeing extinct in the wild.  There is a lot of effort being put into trying to come up with a long term solution to save the devils, I can only hope it succeeds.

[Swatopluk]

I hear they also bite during mating and since the bites are in the face, that's where the tumor arises. Iirc it's not the tumor that kills them directly but it blocks them from eating when it grows, so they starve.

[Jayna]

Poor little things! They are so cute.

[Opsa]

They are adorable! Thanks for posting the photos, Blue. I don't think I've ever seen a live Tasmanian Devil.

And I LOVE Zan's postcard! May we please post it in our home page Museum? Especially if we can remember how?

Zan- can you see the Museum section at the top of the sidebar?

[Sibling DavidH]

I am a keen (if unskilled) photographer.  Last summer I was asked by a charity for people with learning disabilities, for which I am a regular volunteer, to run a 12-week photography course.  The pupils soon started doing some good stuff.  Here is one by a young man with Down's syndrome.

[beagle]

Nice. Looks like the white one (I'm not very good at technical cow terms) is head of the escape committee.

[Sibling DavidH]

Nice. Looks like the white one (I'm not very good at technical cow terms) is head of the escape committee.

It's creating a diversion while the ones to its left dig an escape tunnel.

[Pachyderm]

The one at the back is nonchalantly dropping the tunnel diggings by the river. I suspect it's even whistling....