PREVIEW

An Australian conservation organisation has conducted the first pouch checks of its Tasmanian Devil population for the 2024 breeding season, celebrating the arrival of 31 new joeys.

Intensive trapping in the Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary and Species Recovery Unit secured all females 'in hand,' with startling results. Aussie Ark Wildlife Ranger Adam Mowbray and Operations Manager Dean Reid collaborated to count and sex the joeys.

“It was incredible to see our very first Devil joeys for 2024!” Mr. Mowbray said. “This was the first time I’ve been able to lead the charge checking our Devils’ pouches, and so to have a tiny Devil joey in my hands was truly, truly amazing.”

Tasmanian Devil females experience three estrus cycles during the winter breeding season. The first occurs in February/March, the second in April/May, so these adorable new joeys vary in age from one to three months old. They are blind, hairless, and totally defenseless, and remain clamped to their mother’s teat for 100 days. The pouch can carry up to four joeys, with each joey another vital contributor to the species’ survival.

Trapping and pouch-checking mid-breeding season is necessary to record which females are bearing young and to monitor the progress of the young into the future. The data is also shared with the studbook holder, the Zoological & Aquarium Association, which oversees Australia's breeding program. Additionally, it enables Aussie Ark to predict total joey numbers this season and plan accordingly for next year.

“Aussie Ark has the largest insurance population of this species in the world,” Mr. Mowbray said. “And last year we celebrated our 500th Devil joey. So we’re looking to surpass that record this year.”

With all potential Devil mothers in tiptop health, a third estrus still to go, and more pouch checks scheduled later in winter, Aussie Ark is confident in another history-making breeding season.

“It’s truly incredible to be part of such a vital program,” Mr. Mowbray said proudly, “to ensure we don’t lose yet another mammalian species from this planet.”