Have a Devilishly Good Christmas- SOLD

"Have a Devilishly Good Christmas" 

A wish personally delivered by a Tasmanian Devil!

Tasmanian devils can only be found in the wild in Tasmanian, Australia. They have not lived on the Australian mainland for about 400 years. They are marsupials and the females have pouches. 

Devils are mostly black with white markings. They stand about 30cm high at the shoulder and weigh up to 14kg. They have powerful jaws to crunch through bones. Devils are a carnivore and are also scavengers. 

The early European settlers didn't like them because they ate their chickens and thought that they would eat other farm animals too. In 1830. the Van Diemen's Land Company offered a reward for devils. Tasmanian devils were caught in traps and shot. They almost disappeared and some people thought they would become extinct, like the Tasmanian tiger. It was only in 1941 that laws protected the devils. 

The devil population increased again over the years, but now there is a new worry. Many Tasmanian devils are dying from Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). Scientists are working hard to find a cure.

All my paintings are copyrighted. They are ideas from my imagination and are original artwork. They are not to be reproduced in any manner without authorisation from the artist, Patricia Hopwood-Wade (pjpaintings@gmail.com).