They're not necessarily cute or cuddly, but they're absolutely vital.
Aussie Ark in the Barrington Tops is celebrating a bumper crop of new Tasmanian devils after 31 joeys were born already this breeding season.
Aussie Ark wildlife ranger Adam Mowbray and operations manager Dean Reid trapped the devils to conduct pouch checks, which confirmed the pleasing discovery.
"We've gone from six breeding yards down to three breeding yards to keep the genetics pumping over, so it isn't the best one [crop of joeys] we've had," Reid said. "But it's still pretty exciting."
In 2019 Aussie Ark bred a record 69 joeys during the winter breeding season.
Aussie Ark boasts the largest "insurance" population of the iconic marsupial in the world, with around 200 devils living in the not-for-profit wildlife sanctuary.
Last year the Aussie Ark celebrated the birth of the 500th joey since the sanctuary opened in 2011.
Tasmanian devil females experience three oestrus cycles during the winter breeding season. The third oestrus cycle is yet to arrive, so Reid predicts another 24 joeys could be born before spring.
Devil joeys are born blind, hairless, and totally defenceless, and remain clamped to their mother's teat for 100 days. A mother's pouch can carry up to four joeys.
"They're basically an insurance population, so we're breeding devils with genetic diversity and wild traits for if something disastrous happens down in Tasmania and all the devils get wiped out," Reid said.
Since the 1980s devils have been under threat in their native Tasmania due to the highly-contagious facial tumour disease, which is passed through bites.
After beginning in the north-east corner of Tasmania, it has spread to almost the entire island state. In 2008 Tasmanian devils were enlisted as endangered.
A 2020 report from the Washington State University concluded that the facial tumour disease was in decline and transmission was slowing, but that finding was refuted last year in a fresh study by Cambridge University scientists.
