Animals of Tasmania
191 species
Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's least populated state, with 541,965 residents as of March 2021.
Tasmania has a large percentage of endemism whilst featuring many types of animals found on mainland Australia. Many of these species, such as the platypus are larger than their mainland relatives.The island of Tasmania was home to the thylacine, a marsupial which resembled a fossa or some say a wild dog. Known colloquially as the Tasmanian tiger for the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct in mainland Australia much earlier because of competition by the dingo, introduced in prehistoric times. Owing to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The Tasmanian devil became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936, and is now found in the wild only in Tasmania. Tasmania was one of the last regions of Australia to be introduced to domesticated dogs. Dogs were brought from Britain in 1803 for hunting kangaroos and emus. This introduction completely transformed Aboriginal society, as it helped them to successfully compete with European hunters, and was more important than the introduction of guns for the Aboriginal people.
Tasmania is a hotspot for giant habitat trees and the large animal species that occupy them, notably the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, the Tasmanian masked owl, the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish, the yellow wattlebird, the green rosella and others. Tasmania is also home to the world's only three migratory parrots, the critically endangered Orange-bellied parrot, the Blue-winged parrot, and the fastest parrot in the world, the swift parrot,Tasmania has 12 endemic species of bird in total.
Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's least populated state, with 541,965 residents as of March 2021.
Tasmania has a large percentage of endemism whilst featuring many types of animals found on mainland Australia. Many of these species, such as the platypus are larger than their mainland relatives.The island of Tasmania was home to the thylacine, a marsupial which resembled a fossa or some say a wild dog. Known colloquially as the Tasmanian tiger for the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct in mainland Australia much earlier because of competition by the dingo, introduced in prehistoric times. Owing to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The Tasmanian devil became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936, and is now found in the wild only in Tasmania. Tasmania was one of the last regions of Australia to be introduced to domesticated dogs. Dogs were brought from Britain in 1803 for hunting kangaroos and emus. This introduction completely transformed Aboriginal society, as it helped them to successfully compete with European hunters, and was more important than the introduction of guns for the Aboriginal people.
Tasmania is a hotspot for giant habitat trees and the large animal species that occupy them, notably the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, the Tasmanian masked owl, the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish, the yellow wattlebird, the green rosella and others. Tasmania is also home to the world's only three migratory parrots, the critically endangered Orange-bellied parrot, the Blue-winged parrot, and the fastest parrot in the world, the swift parrot,Tasmania has 12 endemic species of bird in total.
