• DOI:10.1038/439530A
• Corpus ID: 28726802

Endangered species: Time to raise the devil

@article{Dennis2006EndangeredST,
  title={Endangered species: Time to raise the devil},
  author={Carina Dennis},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2006},
  volume={439},
  pages={530-530}
}

• C. Dennis
• Published 1 February 2006
• Environmental Science
• Nature

A horrible facial cancer is decimating the Tasmanian devil population. But researchers in Australia think they have found a way to save the species. Carina Dennis reports.Facing extinction?The Tasmanian devil, the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, was hunted to extinction on the Australian mainland. Now it could be wiped out in Tasmania too. The big threat is the fatal devil facial-tumour disease. Remarkably, and unlike other malignancies, the tumours in every affected animal carry identical chromosome rearrangements and the tumour seems to be passed on by contact through biting, consistent with transmission by an allografting process. Meanwhile, conservation efforts focus on removing sick animals from wild populations.