Tasmanian devil

context: en: Believing it to be a type of opossum, naturalist George Harris wrote the first published description of the Tasmanian devil in 1807, naming it Didelphis ursina, due to its bearlike characteristics such as the round ear. He had earlier made a presentation on the topic at the Zoological Society of London. However, that particular binomial name had been given to the common wombat (later reclassified as Vombatus ursinus) by George Shaw in 1800, and was hence unavailable. In 1838, a specimen was named Dasyurus laniarius by Richard Owen, but by 1877 he had relegated it to Sarcophilus. The modern Tasmanian devil was named Sarcophilus harrisii ("Harris's flesh-lover") by French naturalist Pierre Boitard in 1841.A later revision of the devil's taxonomy, published in 1987, attempted to change the species name to Sarcophilus laniarius based on mainland fossil records of only a few animals. However, this was not accepted by the taxonomic community at large; the name S. harrisii has been retained and S. laniarius relegated to a fossil species. "Beelzebub's pup" was an early vernacular name given to it by the explorers of Tasmania, in reference to a religious figure who is a prince of hell and an assistant of Satan; the explorers first encountered the animal by hearing its far-reaching vocalisations at night. Related names that were used in the 19th century were Sarcophilus satanicus ("Satanic flesh-lover") and Diabolus ursinus ("bear devil"), all due to early misconceptions of the devil as implacably vicious.The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) belongs to the family Dasyuridae. The genus Sarcophilus contains two other species, known only from Pleistocene fossils: S. laniarius and S. moomaensis. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the Tasmanian devil is most closely related to quolls.
qas: question: zh_tw: 現代塔斯馬尼亞魔鬼叫什麼名字
answers: en: text: Sarcophilus harrisii

context: en: Early attempts to breed Tasmanian devils in captivity had limited success. Mary Roberts bred a pair at Beaumaris Zoo which she named Billy and Truganini in 1913. However, although advised to remove Billy, Roberts found Truganini too distressed by his absence, and returned him. The first litter was presumed eaten by Billy, but a second litter in 1914 survived after Billy was removed. Roberts wrote an article on keeping and breeding the devils for the London Zoological Society. Even by 1934, successful breeding of the devil was rare. In a study on the growth of young devils in captivity, some developmental stages were very different from those reported by Guiler. The pinnae were free on day 36, and eyes opened later, on days 115–121.In general, females tend to retain more stress after being taken into captivity than males.A plan to create "insurance populations" of disease-free devils has been ongoing since 2005. As of June 2012, the insurance population has reached a combined total of 500 animals and representing over 98% of the genetic diversity of this species. Most of these devils are living in Australian zoos and wildlife reserves. Beginning in November 2012 however, in an effort to create a population that is both wild and disease-free, Tasmanian devils have been relocated to Maria Island, a mountainous island off the east coast of Tasmania. The Maria Island population has grown from a starting population of twenty-eight to 90 and experts will soon begin transferring healthy devils back to the mainland population.  A study on the survival rates of the Maria Island population found that in contrast to other carnivores raised in captivity, the Tasmanian devils were not adversely affected by being born in captivity when released on Maria Island.Tasmanian devils were displayed in various zoos around the world from the 1850s onwards. In the 1950s several animals were given to European zoos. In October 2005 the Tasmanian government sent four devils, two male and two female, to the Copenhagen Zoo, following the birth of the first son of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and his Tasmanian-born wife Mary. Due to restrictions on their export by the Australian government, at the time these were the only devils known to be living outside Australia. In June 2013, due to the successes of the insurance population program, it was planned to send devils to other zoos around the world in a pilot program. San Diego Zoo Global and Albuquerque Biopark were selected to participate in the program, and Wellington Zoo and Auckland Zoo soon followed. In the United States, four additional zoos have since been selected as part of the Australian government's Save the Tasmanian Devil program, the zoos selected were: the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the Toledo Zoo. Captive devils are usually forced to stay awake during the day to cater to visitors, rather than following their natural nocturnal style.There have been reports and suspicions of illegal trading in the past. In 1997, a devil turned up in Western Australia; it had not escaped from any licensed keeper. During the 1990s there were internet sites in the US that were advertising devil sales, and rumours that some US Navy personnel had tried to buy them illegally during a visit to Tasmania.
qas: question: zh_tw: 有多少袋獾被其政府送到哥本哈根動物園？
answers: en: text: four

context: en: Females start to breed when they reach sexual maturity, typically in their second year. At this point, they become fertile once a year, producing multiple ova while in heat. As prey is most abundant in spring and early summer, the devil's reproductive cycle starts in March or April so that the end of the weaning period coincides with the maximisation of food supplies in the wild for the newly roaming young devils. Occurring in March, mating takes places in sheltered locations during both day and night. Males fight over females in the breeding season, and female devils will mate with the dominant male. Females can ovulate up to three times in a 21-day period, and copulation can take five days; one instance of a couple being in the mating den for eight days has been recorded. Devils are not monogamous, and females will mate with several males if not guarded after mating; males also reproduce with several females during a season. Females have been shown to be selective in an attempt to ensure the best genetic offspring, for example, fighting off the advances of smaller males. Males often keep their mates in custody in the den, or take them along if they need to drink, lest they engage in infidelity. Males can produce up to 16 offspring over their lifetime, while females average four mating seasons and 12 offspring. Theoretically this means that a devil population can double on an annual basis and make the species insulated against high mortality. The pregnancy rate is high; 80% of two-year-old females were observed with newborns in their pouches during the mating season. More recent studies of breeding place the mating season between February and June, as opposed to between February and March.Gestation lasts 21 days, and devils give birth to 20–30 young standing up, each weighing approximately 0.18–0.24 grams (0.0063–0.0085 oz). At birth, the front limb has well-developed digits with claws; unlike many marsupials, the claws of baby devils are not deciduous. As with most other marsupials, the forelimb is longer (0.26–0.43 cm or 0.10–0.17 in) than the rear limb (0.20–0.28 cm or 0.079–0.110 in), the eyes are spots, and the body is pink. There are no external ears or openings. Unusually, the gender can be determined at birth, with an external scrotum present.Tasmanian devil young are variously called "pups", "joeys", or "imps". When the young are born, competition is fierce as they move from the vagina in a sticky flow of mucus to the pouch. Once inside the pouch, they each remain attached to a nipple for the next 100 days. The female Tasmanian devil's pouch, like that of the wombat, opens to the rear, so it is physically difficult for the female to interact with young inside the pouch. Despite the large litter at birth, the female has only four nipples, so there are never more than four babies nursing in the pouch, and the older a female devil gets, the smaller her litters will become. Once the young have made contact with the nipple, it expands, resulting in the oversized nipple being firmly clamped inside the newborn and ensuring that the newborn does not fall out of the pouch. On average, more females survive than males, and up to 60% of young do not survive to maturity.Milk replacements are often used for devils that have been bred in captivity, for orphaned devils or young who are born to diseased mothers.  Little is known about the composition of the devil's milk compared to other marsupials.Inside the pouch, the nourished young develop quickly. In the second week, the rhinarium becomes distinctive and heavily pigmented. At 15 days, the external parts of the ear are visible, although these are attached to the head and do not open out until the devil is around 10 weeks old. The ear begins blackening after around 40 days, when it is less than 1 cm (0.39 in) long, and by the time the ear becomes erect, it is between 1.2 and 1.6 cm (0.47 and 0.63 in). Eyelids are apparent at 16 days, whiskers at 17 days, and the lips at 20 days. The devils can make squeaking noises after eight weeks, and after around 10–11 weeks, the lips can open. Despite the formation of eyelids, they do not open for three months, although eyelashes form at around 50 days. The young—up to this point they are pink—start to grow fur at 49 days and have a full coat by 90 days. The fur growing process starts at the snout and proceeds back through the body, although the tail attains fur before the rump, which is the last part of the body to become covered. Just before the start of the furring process, the colour of the bare devil's skin will darken and become black or dark grey in the tail.The devils have a complete set of facial vibrissae and ulnar carpels, although it is devoid of anconeal vibrissae. During the third week, the mystacials and ulnarcarpals are the first to form. Subsequently, the infraorbital, interramal, supraorbital and submental vibrissae form. The last four typically occur between the 26th and 39th day.
qas: question: zh_tw: 這些生物全身長滿皮毛是什麼時候？
answers: en: text: by 90 days

context: en: It is believed that ancient marsupials migrated from what is now South America to Australia tens of millions of years ago during the time of Gondwana, and that they evolved as Australia became more arid. Fossils of species similar to modern devils have been found, but it is not known whether they were ancestors of the contemporary species, or whether the current devils co-existed with these species. The date that the Tasmanian devil became locally extinct from the Australian mainland is unclear; most evidence suggests they had contracted to three relict populations around 3000 years ago. A tooth found in Augusta, Western Australia has been dated to 430 years ago, but archaeologist Oliver Brown disputes this and considers the devil's mainland extinction to have occurred around 3000 years ago.This disappearance is usually blamed on dingoes, which are absent from Tasmania. Because they were seen as a threat to livestock and animals that humans hunted for fur in Tasmania, devils were hunted and became endangered. In 1941, the devils, which were originally seen as implacably vicious, became officially protected. Since then, scientists have contended that earlier concerns that the devils were the most significant threat to livestock were overestimated and misplaced.
qas: question: zh_tw: 哪種動物最終在塔斯馬尼亞瀕臨滅絕？
answers: en: text: devils

context: en: Tasmanian devils can take prey up to the size of a small kangaroo, but in practice they are opportunistic and eat carrion more often than they hunt live prey. Although the devil favours wombats because of the ease of predation and high fat content, it will eat all small native mammals such as bettong and potoroos, domestic mammals (including sheep), birds, fish, fruit, vegetable matter, insects, tadpoles, frogs and reptiles. Their diet is widely varied and depends on the food available. Before the extinction of the thylacine, the Tasmanian devil ate thylacine joeys left alone in dens when their parents were away. This may have helped to hasten the extinction of the thylacine, which also ate devils. They are known to hunt water rats by the sea and forage on dead fish that have been washed ashore. Near human habitation, they can also steal shoes and chew on them, and eat the legs of otherwise robust sheep when they have slipped in wooden shearing sheds, leaving their legs dangling below. Other unusual matter observed in devil scats includes collars and tags of devoured animals, intact echidna spines, pencil, plastic and jeans. Devils can bite through metal traps, and tend to reserve their strong jaws for escaping captivity rather than breaking into food storage. Due to their relative lack of speed, they can not run down a wallaby or a rabbit, but they can attack animals that have become slow due to illness. They survey flocks of sheep by sniffing them from 10–15 m (33–49 ft) away and attack if the prey is ill. The sheep stamp their feet in a show of strength.Despite their lack of extreme speed, there have been reports that devils can run at 25 km/h (16 mph) for 1.5 km (0.93 mi), and it has been conjectured that, before European immigration and the introduction of livestock, vehicles and roadkill, they would have had to chase other native animals at a reasonable pace to find food. Pemberton has reported that they can average 10 km/h (6.2 mph) for "extended periods" on several nights per week, and that they run for long distances before sitting still for up to half an hour, something that has been interpreted as evidence of ambush predation.Devils can dig to forage corpses, in one case digging down to eat the corpse of a buried horse that had died due to illness. They are known to eat animal cadavers by first ripping out the digestive system, which is the softest part of the anatomy, and they often reside in the resulting cavity while they are eating.On average, devils eat about 15% of their body weight each day, although they can eat up to 40% of their body weight in 30 minutes if the opportunity arises. This means they can become very heavy and lethargic after a large meal; in this state they tend to waddle away slowly and lie down, becoming easy to approach. This has led to a belief that such eating habits became possible due to the lack of a predator to attack such bloated individuals.Tasmanian devils can eliminate all traces of a carcass of a smaller animal, devouring the bones and fur if desired. In this respect, devils have earned the gratitude of Tasmanian farmers, as the speed at which they clean a carcass helps prevent the spread of insects that might otherwise harm livestock. Some of these dead animals are disposed of when the devils haul off the excess feed back to their residence to continue eating at a later time.The diet of a devil can vary substantially for males and females, and seasonally, according to studies at Cradle Mountain. In winter, males prefer medium mammals over larger ones, with a ratio of 4:5, but in summer, they prefer larger prey in a 7:2 ratio. These two categories accounted for more than 95% of the diet. Females are less inclined to target large prey, but have the same seasonal bias. In winter, large and medium mammals account for 25% and 58% each, with 7% small mammals and 10% birds. In summer, the first two categories account for 61% and 37% respectively.Juvenile devils are sometimes known to climb trees; in addition to small vertebrates and invertebrates, juveniles climb trees to eat grubs and birds' eggs. Juveniles have also been observed climbing into nests and capturing birds. Throughout the year, adult devils derive 16.2% of their biomass intake from arboreal species, almost all of which is possum meat, just 1.0% being large birds. From February to July, subadult devils derive 35.8% of their biomass intake from arboreal life, 12.2% being small birds and 23.2% being possums. Female devils in winter source 40.0% of their intake from arboreal species, including 26.7% from possums and 8.9% from various birds. Not all of these animals were caught while they were in trees, but this high figure for females, which is higher than for male spotted-tailed quolls during the same season, is unusual, as the devil has inferior tree climbing skills.
qas: question: zh_tw: 袋獾贏得了誰的尊重？
answers: en: text: Tasmanian farmers

context: en: The devil is an iconic animal within Australia, particularly Tasmania; it is the symbol of the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the former Tasmanian Australian rules football team which played in the Victorian Football League was known as the Devils. The Hobart Devils were once part of the National Basketball League. The devil has appeared on several commemorative coins in Australia over the years. Cascade Brewery in Tasmania sells a ginger beer with a Tasmanian devil on the label. In 2015, the Tasmanian devil was chosen as Tasmania's state emblem.Tasmanian devils are popular with tourists, and the director of the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park has described their possible extinction as "a really significant blow for Australian and Tasmanian tourism". There has also been a multimillion-dollar proposal to build a giant 19 m-high, 35 m-long devil in Launceston in northern Tasmania as a tourist attraction. Devils began to be used in tourism from the 1970s, when studies showed that the animals were often the only things known about Tasmania overseas and suggested that they should therefore be the centrepiece of marketing efforts, resulting in some devils being taken on promotional tours.With its unique personality, the Tasmanian devil has been the subject of numerous documentaries, fiction and non-fiction children's books. Royalties from Margaret Wild's Ruby Roars, about a Tasmanian devil, are going to research into DFTD. A 2005 Australian documentary on the Tasmanian devil, Terrors of Tasmania, directed and produced by David Parer and Elizabeth Parer-Cook, follows a female devil called Manganinnie through breeding season and the birth and rearing of her young. The documentary also looks at the effect of devil facial tumour disease and the conservation measures being taken to ensure survival of the Tasmanian devil. It has screened on television in Australia and in the United States on the National Geographic Channel.
qas: question: zh_tw: 該紀錄片曾在哪些國家播出？
answers: en: text: Australia and in the United States

context: en: Their eyes open shortly after their fur coat develops—between 87 and 93 days—and their mouths can relax their hold of the nipple at 100 days. They leave the pouch 105 days after birth, appearing as small copies of the parent and weighing around 200 grams (7.1 oz). Zoologist Eric Guiler recorded its size at this time as follows: a crown-snout length of 5.87 cm (2.31 in), tail length of 5.78 cm (2.28 in), pes length 2.94 cm (1.16 in), manus 2.30 cm (0.91 in), shank 4.16 cm (1.64 in), forearm 4.34 cm (1.71 in) and crown-rump length is 11.9 cm (4.7 in). During this period, the devils lengthen at a roughly linear rate.After being ejected, the devils stay outside the pouch, but they remain in the den for around another three months, first venturing outside the den between October and December before becoming independent in January. During this transitional phase out of the pouch, the young devils are relatively safe from predation as they are generally accompanied. When the mother is hunting they can stay inside a shelter or come along, often riding on their mother's back. During this time they continue to drink their mother's milk. Female devils are occupied with raising their young for all but approximately six weeks of the year. The milk contains a higher amount of iron than the milk of placental mammals. In Guiler's 1970 study, no females died while rearing their offspring in the pouch. After leaving the pouch, the devils grow by around 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) a month until they are six months old. While most pups will survive to be weaned, Guiler reported that up to three fifths of devils do not reach maturity. As juveniles are more crepuscular than adults, their appearance in the open during summer gives the impression to humans of a population boom.  A study into the success of translocated devils that were orphaned and raised in captivity found that young devils who had consistently engaged with new experiences while they were in captivity survived better than young who had not.Embryonic diapause does not occur.Guiler has reported that consecutive hermaphroditism (sex change) has occurred in captured devils, while Pemberton and Mooney recorded in 2004 the case of an animal with a scrotum and a non-functional pouch.In an apparent response to reduced competition caused by devil facial tumour disease, female devils in regions with the disease are now more likely to begin breeding at the age of one year. The disease has also led to the reproductive season being less well-defined, with births more spread out throughout the year. Litters born to mothers with DFTD have more female pups than male pups.A slow-release hormonal contraceptive implant for female devils is being developed and tested in a joint program between the Save the Tasmanian Devil program, the Zoo and Aquarium Association, the Taronga Conservation Society and the University of Sydney. This wildlife contraceptive program is aimed to help the devils continue with their wild behaviour by mating freely, but without certain females contributing too much to the next generation, which "can have long-term genetic consequences for the insurance population". Contraceptive trials in male devils showed that their testosterone increased, instead of decreasing as other male mammals' testosterone does. Early studies suggest that the female contraception has been successful, and the female contraceptive implants will be tested in the Maria Island insurance population.
qas: question: zh_tw: 獅子的毛皮生長需要多少天？
answers: en: text: between 87 and 93 days