North American Tasmanian Devil Population

Tasmanian Devil Population ​

Population: 7.4​

ABQ BioPark Zoo - Albuquerque, NM (2.0)

1.0 Cola b. 2017

1.0 Schweppes b. 2017


Columbus Zoo - Powell, OH (2.1)

1.0 Sprout b. 2018

1.0 Mustard b. 2018

0.1 Thyme b. 2018


Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo - Fort Wayne, IN (2.0)

1.0 Milton b. ~ 2016

1.0 Mischief b. ~ 2016


Saint Louis Zoo - St. Louis, MO (0.2)

0.1 Jannali b. ~ 2016

0.1 Yindi b. ~ 2016


San Diego Zoo - San Diego, CA (2.1)

1.0 McLovin b. 2017

0.1 Quirindi b. 2017

 

Just a note that many of these Tasmanian devils will be deceased i.e. it shouldn’t be regarded as a current living population list.

This species lives an average of five to six years (seven is the maximum) and some of the individuals listed here would otherwise be nine or ten years old.

If the respective zoos still hold the species, it’s likely they’ve quietly replaced them. New Zealand zoos also receive ambassadors devils from Australia and never announce the deaths - just the arrival of new ones every couple of years.

 

I didn't know their lifespan was so short

 

Fort Wayne does not have devils at the moment.

 

Where did they send them?

 

They died. One was apparently ten, the oldest in the US at the time of their death.

 

Many marsupials aren't very long lived. I've heard the average for a captive Virginia Opossum is 2-3 years, and that's just the norm...

 

Ah thank you.

 

Pardon the digression, but I used to keep Brazilian short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica) and their average lifespan is four years.

 

The Columbus Zoo has announced that Sprout passed away on June 27, 2022. He was born on April 26, 2018.

 

Ten years would be a remarkable age for a Tasmanian devil. Six to eight years is normal for captive animals.

 

Schweppes moved to the San Diego Zoo from Albuquerque sometime recently, since this Facebook Video from earlier this month mentions him, but does not say anything about his arrival.
ne-np.facebook.com/SanDiegoZoo/videos/tasmanian-devil-close-up/1289979385141482/

 

Who are confirmed current holders besides San Diego if the first post is out of date?

Are they still being imported from Australia at all? Is captive breeding for the species successful?

 

Toledo, Columbus, maybe ABQ.

As far as I know, yes.

Yes, a quite successful breeding program is ongoing in Australia.

 

Thank you for answering my questions,@Great Argus -- I slightly misspoke on the last question as I was more intending to ask if the North American population was breeding successfully, but it still helps to understand they are breeding well in Australia. I hope they can become more commonplace here but it sounds as if perhaps the breeding rate is too low to offset mortality, but I am going off limited data and I am sure other zoochatters will be better-informed on this.

 

Unfortunately, breeding will never occur within the North American population (or in any country outside of Australia). This is because Australia only export post reproductive Tasmanian devils, so imports will constantly be needed to maintain numbers.

Even New Zealand zoos are subject to this rule, which is annoying as it prevents a self sustainable population from being established; but it serves to accommodate the surplus of the Australian breeding programme and free up space to breed more - which is the official reason given for them not exporting reproductively viable Tasmanian devils.

 

Thank you for the insight. This is definitely not what I thought I had understood about their situation in North America at all so I appreciate the clarification.

 

I'm guessing that if Schweppes is now in San Diego, I think that Cola is either with him or deceased. McLovin and Quirindi may have passed away recently.

 

Tasmanian devils. like other dasyurids, must be bred in their first year if they are to be fertile in subsequent years. Given they have 4 to 6 offspring, who must also be bred within their first year, they can quickly fill up available spaces. The normal response to that is for zoos to then call a halt to breeding and the animals quickly become post-reproductive (3-4 years). The population then quickly becomes extinct as the animals age and die. Thus it is difficult to maintain a stable population in zoos.

Ideally there would be a small number of breeding zoos and a large number of zoos just displaying. Unfortunately devils are not great display species, especially when many visitors expect a cartoon character and not a small sleepy black blob. So the number of zoos that actually want to keep them are very small. The current arrangement is probably the best option all round.