Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Paternity testing and lots more!


It’s an exciting time at Devil Ark.  We’re just about to start biopsing our 40 joeys that were born last year.  This reveals who their parents are, as they breed in massive free range enclosues that contain up to 12 devs, so this procedure is necessary to determine paternity. A small skin scrapping is taken from the little one’s ear and is sent to our friends at Sydney University for testing. 
In readiness for breeding we’re already seeing females showing signs of nesting and this includes grabbing tusks of grass to take back to their dens to build comfy nests.  We can see trails of this tussock leading right into their dens, so its easy to work out which dens have female inhabitation. 
 
The brumbies are prolific up this way and the other day I woke up to find a herd of wild brumbies in my very own backyard!  This is the closest I’ve ever got to them and they are truly beautiful, wild animals.
 
 
Chicko and Cheech are growing bigger by the day and have even hit the 2kg mark.  I’ve been handraising these littles guys for three months now and I sure have become attached to them.  I’ll only have them for a couple of months more and they’ll then go into the crèche yards to socialise with the other joeys their own age.  It wont be long before they’re old enough to breed and will make baby devils of  their own.
Chicko and Cheech
We’ve had bushfires in the area but thankfully no close calls.   It’s been hot up at the Ark and the devils burrow way underground to keep cool.  This is how they’d stay safe in a bushfire too.  Devs are actually pretty hardy in bushfires, as they can burrow to keep safe - Adrian Devil Ark keeper