Ever since Wend laid eyes on Scott and Katy’s Tasmanian devil oven glove back in Hobart she’s talked about little else. I’ve had to reassure her on a daily basis that, yes, we would see a devil during our stay and - more importantly - yes, I would buy her a novelty oven glove.
She’s very low maintenance my missus.
A week in and there hasn’t been a sniff of a devil anywhere. So we put things right today by visiting Natureworld; a rather sad looking safari park that’s well past it’s sell by date. Half the enclosures contain nothing but rotting tree trunks and mud, there’s a walk-through aviary housing a couple of the most miserable Kookaburras in Oz and the park ranger, who was supposed to keep us informed and amused, was a humourless twerp.
But it is home to around a dozen Tasmanian devils, and they brighten our visit immeasurably.
Threatened in the wild by a particularly virulent cancer that’s decimating their population, this little colony seems determined to go against the Natureworld grain and thrive in their grim surroundings.
Very entertaining they are too, especially at feeding time, when the younger devils start fighting over lumps of kangaroo carcass. They have a ferocious appetite and can put away up to 40% of their body weight in under half an hour. More impressive still, is the power they can muster from their jaws; pound for pound, only a great white shark can crush bones more effectively.
We like them a lot. And Wend’s morning was complete when we find the holy grail lurking in the corner of Natureworld’s souvenir shop…a Tasmanian devil oven glove.
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