00:00There's so much that goes into looking after these devils here at Aussie ARC and our first
00:06task of the day is to prepare their food.
00:09And we want to keep their diet as natural as we possibly can.
00:12So we use commercially culled eastern grade kangaroos that have come from areas where
00:16they're overpopulated.
00:17We bring them here to the ARC and we utilise them to feed the devils.
00:19So naturally they feed on carrion and in Tasmania a lot of that is macropods.
00:25So we can utilise these and give them a pretty well perfect diet that they'd naturally get.
00:31And by doing that we have unbelievably healthy devils that then go on to produce super healthy
00:38babies.
00:39So essentially in the wild they're carrion eaters are they?
00:41Yeah they're carrion so they just feed off carcasses.
00:44We'll keep this big piece in that bucket you just brought in for us.
00:49So that's all us done.
00:52You ready for this?
00:53It's pretty exciting.
00:54I think so.
00:55Let's go.
00:56You want to grab two of those buckets?
00:57Cool.
01:18Alrighty, so we're going to go in and feed them.
01:21There's 11 adult devils in there.
01:25And they're going to be unbelievably excited because they know what time it is.
01:28It's food.
01:29But I can't stress enough you need to watch behind you constantly because they'll be drawing
01:34your attention from the front with all the noise and the excitement.
01:37And then someone will just come sneaking in behind you.
01:39What must I do if that happens?
01:41You need to use the sole of your foot to sort of just gently push them back.
01:44Do not give them your toes because you're not going to get them back.
01:49Billy, where should I put it?
01:50There's a stake right here.
01:51Straight on this stake.
01:52There's already devils coming in to your right, left, and directly in front of you.
01:56Like there's literally a devil right there.
01:58Here he comes.
01:59So we'll just step back here.
02:00We'll let them build their confidence up.
02:03So their eyesight is terrible, right?
02:06They can barely see anything in front of them.
02:08But their sense of smell is incredible.
02:10I'm talking they can smell a carcass from over two kilometres away.
02:13They can smell a carcass from over two kilometres away.
02:16I'm talking they can smell a carcass from over two kilometres away.
02:19And they've got great hearing.
02:21So once one comes on and starts making a bit of a noise,
02:24the others will hear it and they'll start sneaking in.
02:26And then all of a sudden there'll be 11 devils around this carcass.
02:29And they'll just disappear like that.
02:31They're like piranhas.
02:38Tasmanian devils are solitary animals.
02:40But what they do really well is when an animal dies, it gives off a different smell.
02:45It attacks all those devils from about two kilometres away.
02:48So when they're on the food, they're actually helping each other pull that meat apart.
02:52If there was only one devil on the food, it would take it an hour to eat its food.
02:55When you've got 10 devils on there, it only lasts about 10 minutes.
02:58And what they're actually doing, it's called communal feed.
03:00And they're talking the whole time.
03:02They're sniffing.
03:03They're urfing.
03:04And they're gesturing.
03:05And they don't really fight that much.
03:07Except for when the food goes down, they'll see a bit of squabbling.
03:09And things you'll see is like bridging.
03:11Where they get up and their two feet touch and their noses touch.
03:14But this de-escalates the tension.
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