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Tasmanian devils are the largest Australian carnivores. They are about the size of a medium sized dog.

Males are larger than the females. An average male weighs about 9 kg while the female weighs about 7 kg.

The scientific name for the Tasmanian devil is Sarcophilus harisii. Sarco means meat and philus means lover. The nocturnal devil loves eating meat, and it eats very noisily, growling, screaming and squabbling while eating. They mainly eat dead animals; wallabies, kangaroos and anything else though they have been known to catch and kill small birds and animals.

Where devils have been feeding, only the largest bones are left, the rest being chewed by the devils powerful jaws.

Tasmanian devils are found only on the island of Tasmania. One of the reasons for this is that there are no dingoes in Tasmania. Dingoes were unable to cross Bass Strait which meant that Tasmanian animals did not have to worry about hunting dingoes. Because devils have no enemies, they are found in numbers all over Tasmania.

Devils are mostly black, though there are usually some white patches of fur on the body. The head is large and its teeth are sharp. Because the animal is nocturnal, its eyes are large and black. Babies are born just three weeks after mating. Females carry about four young in a backward facing pouch. Then the young are left in a burrow while the mother hunts and provides for them. After about twenty weeks, the young devils come out of the burrow to learn to care for themselves.