Tasmanian Devils in GURPS

Sarcophilus harrisii

Tasmanian devils are the worlds largest extant carnivorous marsupial. Although they once ranged across Australia during the Pleistocene, in historic times they have been confined to the island of Tasmania. These animals have a stocky body with short legs and a large, very sturdy head that has a mouth full of large, very sturdy teeth that can gape quite remarkably wide. They are black in color and usually, though not always, have a white stripe across their chest and shoulders. They emit very loud screeches and screams, which many people find unnerving. This can serve as a warning, a threat, or a way to announce territory. When out and active, they may make an eerie growl. Frightened devils will emit a potent, pungent, unpleasant odor.

The devils are specialized as scavengers, with powerful jaws and sturdy teeth for crunching up bones. Modern devils often patrol roads looking for roadkill. However, they are quite willing and able to kill their own prey - typically wombats, but also various medium to small vertebrates such as fish or frogs as well as invertebrates and even fruit. Because they don't have so many brains getting in the way of valuable space for jaw closing muscles, devils can have a much more powerful bite for their size than any placental mammal - they have been known to bite through thick metal wire. They use this ability to chew up and devour every part of a carcass. When given the opportunity, they will gorge on up to 40% of their body weight, and do so in 30 minutes or less.

Devils are nocturnal and are usually solitary, with a restless energy and an inquisitive disposition. They spend the day sleeping in a hole in the ground or in dense brush. Their senses are adapted for night-time activity. They have good night vision, good hearing, long whiskers, and a very good sense of smell which they use to locate carcasses. At large carcasses is the only place you usually find many devils at once, as many of these animals will gather to devour it. They may socialize at these meetings, they certainly screech a lot. If this is socializing, then socializing among devils seems to mostly involve biting each other. Here we see the benefit of the white chest stripe - it seems to draw the attention, and the bites, away from more vulnerable parts of the body.

Like all marsupials, females gestate the young for only a short time before giving birth to nearly embryonic infants. These young then find their way to a teat and start suckling, completing their development in a special pouch. Among devils, however, there is a bit of a hitch - the female gives birth to about fifty young, but has only four teats. The young must compete among themselves for available teats, and only the strongest four will survive. Once the young are too large to stay in the pouch, the mother will keep them in a den - usually a wombat hole - and nurse them until they can get about on their own. At this point, they may follow their mother, ride on their mother's back, or be dragged underneath her, still attached to her teats, as she cruises about. Young devils are quite capable of climbing trees, but seem to lose this ability as adults (in game terms, give the young Climbing skill at DX).

Many of their habits may seem strange or even repulsive, but devils are generally welcome for their habit of rapidly cleaning up carcasses and controlling rodents. This is a relatively recent occurance, however - in earlier periods of the European colonization of Tasmania devils were heavily persecuted as livestock predators. In modern times, the devil is seen as a territorial symbol by the people of Tasmania, and generates a fair amount of tourist revenue from people who want to observe this unique creature. They have been made famous, or maybe notorious, by a cartoon character called the Tasmanian devil, even though it had very little in common with its namesake. There are no known cases of devils attacking humans unprovoked, although rumors of devil predation on humans abound. They certainly will scavenge human remains if they get the opportunity, and murder victims or suicides out in the bush may quickly vanish into devils' stomachs. Usually, however, devils will remain stock-still in the presence of a live human, or may quiver in fear. If grabbed, it may scratch or bite in self defense but will usually by subdued into immobility by a firm grip. In captivity, they can lose their fear of humans and may welcome our presence if we regularly feed them, but never become friendly.

In the late 1990's, devils started dieing from a strange infectious cancer called devil facial tumour disease. This was spread by devils biting each other on the face, which they tend to do a lot of. The tumors eventually grow so large that they keep the devil from eating, and it starves to death. This bizarre disease has decimated devil numbers, and there is considerable concern about their long-term survival.

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