<P> The devil is an iconic symbol of Tasmania and many organisations, groups and products associated with the state use the animal in their logos . It is seen as an important attractor of tourists to Tasmania and has come to worldwide attention through the Looney Tunes character of the same name . Starting in 2013, Tasmanian devils are again being sent to zoos around the world as part of the Australian government's Save the Tasmanian Devil Program . </P> <P> Believing it to be a type of opossum, naturalist George Harris wrote the first published description of the Tasmanian devil in 1807, naming it Didelphis ursina, due to its bearlike characteristics such as the round ear . He had earlier made a presentation on the topic at the Zoological Society of London . However, that particular binomial name had been given to the common wombat (later reclassified as Vombatus ursinus) by George Shaw in 1800, and was hence unavailable . In 1838, a specimen was named Dasyurus laniarius by Richard Owen, but by 1877 he had relegated it to Sarcophilus . The modern Tasmanian devil was named Sarcophilus harrisii ("Harris's meat - lover") by French naturalist Pierre Boitard in 1841 . </P> <P> A later revision of the devil's taxonomy, published in 1987, attempted to change the species name to Sarcophilus laniarius based on mainland fossil records of only a few animals . However, this was not accepted by the taxonomic community at large; the name S. harrisii has been retained and S. laniarius relegated to a fossil species . "Beelzebub's pup" was an early vernacular name given to it by the explorers of Tasmania, in reference to a religious figure who is a prince of hell and an assistant of Satan; the explorers first encountered the animal by hearing its far - reaching vocalisations at night . Related names that were used in the 19th century were Sarcophilus satanicus ("Satanic meatlover") and Diabolus ursinus ("bear devil"), all due to early misconceptions of the devil as implacably vicious . </P> <P> The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) belongs to the family Dasyuridae . The genus Sarcophilus contains two other species, known only from Pleistocene fossils: S. laniarius and S. moomaensis . The relationships between the three species are not clear . Phylogenetic analysis shows that the Tasmanian devil is most closely related to quolls . </P>

Why do they call it the devils den