As I sit here by the fire a Tasmanian devil joey snuggles up against my chest, gently nibbling at my shirt. These marsupials are infamous for having the strongest bite relative to their body size in the world, but this baby devil has one of the most gentle personalities. I have the pleasure of starting work at a field site where, in the not too distant future, these endangered animals may be once again running around the forests of continental Australia.

Phoenix, a devil joey, enjoys being held tightly–as if she were still in her mother’s pouch!

Just a 5 hour roadtrip north of Sydney, past pasturelands and beautiful mountain tops, lies Devil Ark–the largest captive breeding center for Tasmanian devils outside of Tasmania. The home base for Devil Ark is a remote mountain getaway overlooking meadows and hazy blue mountains in the distance.

The view from Devil Ark—what a beautiful field site!

Great lookout over Barrington Tops National Park on the way to the field site

I scoped out the hilly eucalyptus forests for a potential thesis project via off-roading through thick mud and hiking down steep ravines. The director of Devil Ark took me spotlighting for animals along the main road on my first night. We saw lots of frogs, including the endangered Davie’s frog which is only found right here on this mountain top! Using military grade thermal scopes to detect the heat signatures of animals through the cold and rain, I saw a brush-tailed and short-eared mountain possum, a sugar glider, and a bunch of greater gliders. I also saw a large sooty owl, a local owl called a boobook, named for the sound it hoots, and tawny frogmouths flying by the road.

The endangered Davie’s Tree Frog, found only on this mountaintop five hours north of Sydney

The captive breeding center is composed of dozens of fenced enclosures meant to keep out invasive animals like foxes and cats. A pair of Tasmanian devils and a couple other animals are being raised at the home base before they are released to the enclosures down at the site, but in the meantime I enjoy snuggling up with them after a long day out in the rain! The devils are quite fierce during feeding time, but they are quite lovable as they hobble around on their stubby legs supporting their chunky torsos.

An adult Tasmanian devil. They used to roam continental Australia before being driven to extinction on the mainland.

There are also other endangered animals that are being raised at the facility. I got to assist in feeding them and even got to hand feed bandicoots and long-nosed potoroos. Contrasting with the devils, who ferociously tear up the kangaroo meat, the bandicoots take their time nibbling at the veggie mix with their long snouts. The long-nosed potaroo–a more ancient member of the kangaroo family— just took a nibble at a piece of corn that I offered an ran!

Hand feeding a southern brown bandicoot! Their diet is designed by experts to imitate their diet in the wild

Hand feeding a southern brown bandicoot! Their diet is designed by experts to imitate their diet in the wild

A long-nosed potaroo, which made a brief appearance before running off with its food!

A long-nosed potaroo, which made a brief appearance before running off with its food!

I also saw the critically endangered parma wallabies; it is amazing to see all of these animals that have disappeared from the area back in the mountains. I am very happy to be part of this project that has the long term goal of releasing them back to the forests here. In the meantime, it is fun to play with the joeys that are being hand-raised back at the house!

A parma wallaby; these small marsupials are particularly vulnerable to predation by invasive cats and foxes