Tasmanian devils make a comeback on mainland Australia after 3,000 years

Tasmanian devils have returned to the wild on the Australian mainland, over 3,000 years after they were wiped out in the region.

Seven baby Tasmanian devils, known as joeys, were born at the Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in New South Wales. The announcement was made by Aussie Ark, an Australian NGO, in an Instagram post on Monday.

Tasmanian devils vanished from mainland Australia after dingoes, wild dogs, arrived. They were confined to Tasmania, but their population faced further devastation due to a contagious cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), which has wiped out about 90% of the population since it was discovered in 1996.

In September, Aussie Ark released 11 Tasmanian devils back into the wild on the mainland after a previous trial involving 15. This brought the total number of devils on the mainland to 26. Just months later, these devils successfully reproduced, with tiny joeys, the size of shelled peanuts, spotted in their mothers' pouches.

Female Tasmanian devils give birth to between 20 and 40 joeys at a time. The joeys quickly race to their mother's pouch, which has only four teats. Those that make it inside stay in the pouch for about three months.

"For nearly a decade, we’ve worked tirelessly to return Tasmanian devils to the wild of mainland Australia, hoping they’d establish a sustainable population. Once they were reintroduced, it was in their hands," Aussie Ark shared in a statement. "Watching from a distance, it wasn’t until the first wild joeys were born that we knew the moment had arrived. And what a moment it was!"

Tasmanian devils are the largest carnivorous marsupials on Earth and are native apex predators. Their reintroduction to the mainland will help control populations of invasive species like feral cats and foxes, which threaten other endangered wildlife. Devils are also scavengers, playing a key role in maintaining the health of their ecosystem by preventing the spread of disease.

There are only about 25,000 Tasmanian devils left in the wild in Tasmania, according to Aussie Ark.

"We’ve made significant strides in bringing the devil back to mainland Australia, and today marks another monumental step forward," said Tim Faulkner, president of Aussie Ark, in a video posted on Instagram.