A carnivorous marsupial mammal (family Dasyuridae) that has a squat body about 65 cm long with a large head and long tail. Its fur is usually black. It is nocturnal and crepuscular and feeds mainly on carrion, but also on prey up to the size of a small kangaroo. They occur only in Tasmania. Since the 1990s the population has been reduced by devil facial tumour disease, a contagious cancer transmitted when individuals bite each other, usually leading to death by starvation, although more recent evidence suggests that the animals may be developing a degree of immunity.