Monarto Zoo hopes for more Tasmanian devils breeding program success
Keepers at Monarto Zoo in South Australia are hoping for more breeding success as part of a national effort to rear Tasmanian devils that are free of facial tumour disease.
They said there had been success most years since Monarto, south-east of Adelaide, got involved in the program in 2006 and it was again breeding season.
But keeper Louise Stockburger said little romance was involved.
"The male roughly stays in the den for about three days I think before the female gets sick of him and tosses him out," she said.
The resident male Monzo and five other devils are involved in the Monarto breeding effort, because facial tumour disease has wiped out more than 80 per cent of devils in Tasmania itself.
More than 20 organisations across mainland Australia are making captive breeding efforts to improve genetic diversity and the disease-free devils are often moved around, Ms Stockburger said.
"We occasionally have devils brought from interstate into our facility and bred with one of our multi-generation Monarto-bred devils," she said.
"We'll also outsource some of own devils as well when they're recommended to breed interstate."
Tasmanian devils are nocturnal so cameras are used to monitor their night-time behaviour.
About 600 devils have been bred in captivity as part of the national program.
