A new Tasmanian Devil exhibit at the San Diego Zoo aims to raise international awareness of the plight of the endangered species.

It is the first overseas zoo to receive the “ambassador” devils as part of the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

Rick Schwartz from the San Diego Zoo told the World Today it was important to establish a devil population outside of Tasmania.

“The initial step in most conservation programs is to establish what we refer to as a satellite population is to see how they do in that new environment,” he said.

“If everything goes well with them then we may look forward then to doing breeding programs to help diversify the genetics of the species that we have.”