Tasmania News

Tasmania News From AOL News

Tasmanian Devils Almost Extinct: 5 Facts About the Endangered Marsupials

They're tough. They're carnivorous. They're iconic critters, even though they're neither cute nor cuddly. And soon they may be gone. Scientists are reporting that the Tasmanian devil is nearing extinction because of a highly infectious form of cancer that has wiped out 90 percent of the population. The cancer, called...

Tasmania Is Promoting Its Convict Heritage

(Oct. 4) -- Tasmania is proud of its convict heritage -- so much so that the official tourism board is promoting travel to landmark prisons around the island as part of a new type of getaway dubbed "convictourism." The Tourism Tasmania promotion comes on the heels of an announcement in July that UNESCO would add five...

Devils Dine on Roadkill in New Zoo Habitat

(July 1) -- Forget fancy china -- Tasmanian devils love their meals served up on long asphalt plates with a dotted line down the middle. A new habitat for the endangered marsupials has opened up at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and it features a phony highway where Taz chow is placed inside fake kangaroo corpses. Yum, yum....

40,000-Year-Old Tools Found at Construction Site

(March 14) -- It's being dubbed "Tasmania's Valley of the Kings." At the site for a proposed freeway overpass, archaeologists have uncovered what they say are the earliest southernmost artifacts of human life. Still in the initial stages of excavation, a team of archaeologists unearthed thousands of artifacts near the...

Scientists Find Clue to Tasmanian Devil Cancer

WASHINGTON (Dec. 31) – Fierce as they are, Tasmanian devils can't beat a contagious cancer that threatens to wipe them out. Now scientists think they've found the disease's origin, a step in the race to save Australia's snarling marsupial. The furry black animals spread a fast-killing cancer when they bite each...

Tasmania News From the Web

05/31/12 Do your bit for Tourism: Save a Mainlander Source: Tasmanian Government Media Relea The Minister for Tourism, Scott Bacon, today urged Tasmanians to 'save a mainlander' as part of a two-month campaign to get locals to encourage interstate friends, colleagues and relatives to holiday in Tasmania.
05/29/12 Nation's biggest fish farm for Tasmania Source: TradingRoom The largest fish farming area in Australia will be created on Tasmania's west coast after the state government agreed to expand operations in Macquarie Harbour.
05/24/12 MHM METALS LTD. Source: Global Infomine MHM Metals is an Australia-based company.
05/24/12 Tasmania's $400m bid as Canberra warms to Wilkie Source: f2 Network THE federal government is considering Andrew Wilkie's request for a $400 million rescue package for the Tasmanian health system.
05/22/12 BHP backs Temco plant in Tasmania Source: The Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney NSW - Australia AUSTRALIA'S manufacturing sector has received some rare good news, with BHP Billiton announcing it will keep open its manganese processing plant in Tasmania.

Background on Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands.

more at wikipedia »