The Tasmanian devils were in their element at Aussie Ark on the weekend as snow covered the Barrington Tops. The other animals housed at the conservation facility, however, weren't quite as enamoured with the white stuff.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"The smaller mammals - the potoroos, bandicoots, bettongs, wallabies - they're just bunkered down. They just want it to go away," Tim Faulkner, general manager of Aussie Ark said.
"But when it comes to the devils, they're thriving. One interesting thing with devils is they have a really hard time staying cool. They love cold weather, they don't like hot weather. Devils can't cool down like us; their skin doesn't sweat. The only way they cool down is the blood circulating through those red ears of theirs'. Their feet and their pads have got thickened skin, and they've got a good layer of fat around their neck and the base of their tail at the body.
"Seeing those devils out in the snow, and the sound..." he laughs, "they're a little quiet, a little timid, I think that's because if the conditions - there's snow falling, it's something that odd, but really it's busines as usual for them," he said.
Tim took the drive up through Gloucester on Sunday to Aussie Ark. He was surprised at how much more snow there was than usual.
"The snow was down to where the tar starts! It was down to 1000 metres on the eastern side. It went from the sub alpine area, through the Antarctic beech forest, and down into the eucalyptus woodland. It was just incredible," he said.
