3-003-801 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ursine Dasyure, or Tasmanian Devil (Dasyurus ursinus), 1861. '...a fine example recently added to the Zoological Society of London's collection, probably the only individual of this species living in Europe. It belongs to the group of carnivorous marsupials...and is remarkable for its savage and untamable disposition, whence it has acquired from the settlers in Tasmania the name of the "Devil," or "native Devil." Its somewhat ugly shape, and black, unattractive appearance, may, perhaps, have contributed to cause this appellation to be bestowed upon it. "'These animals...were very common on our first settling at Hobart Town, and were particulary destructive to poultry...As the settlement increased...they were driven...to the deeper recesses of the forests yet unexplored. They are, however, easily procured by setting a trap in the most unfrequented parts of the woods, baited with raw flesh, all kinds of which they eat indiscriminately and voraciously...In a state of confinement they appear to be untamably savage, biting severely, and uttering at the same time a low, yelling growl... They...used their fore paws to convey food to their mouths. The muscles of the jaws were very strong, as they cracked the largest bones asunder with ease".' From "Illustrated London News", 1861.