Tassie devils transfix Japanese PM's wife

Tasmanian devils proved the surprise hit of a trip to Perth Zoo by the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Akie Abe started the visit in the Japanese Garden, a gift to the zoo from Hyogo prefecture, where she saw a frill-neck lizard and stroked a short-beaked echidna.

Mrs Abe crammed a lot in to her 40 minutes at the zoo, feeding kangaroos and briefly watching koalas, then lingering at the Tasmanian devil enclosure, where she seemed transfixed by a pair as they fed on raw meat.

Perth Zoo chief executive Susan Hunt said she was thrilled Mrs Abe was able to see a slice of Australia during what has been a very busy diplomatic visit with her husband.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spent the day touring a Rio Tinto iron ore mine in the Pilbara region.