scienceyoucanlove:I’m broke and hungry and I’m about to die, so here’s a sad art

scienceyoucanlove: I’m broke and hungry and I’m about to die, so here’s a sad article :/ The death of the Tasmanian devil: Is there any hope? A parasitic cancer has been killing Tasmanian devils in extraordinary numbers. Since its discovery in 1996 the disease, known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), has wiped out around 80% of the iconic animal. DFTD is spread via bites and is restricted to the Tasmanian devil. It is one of only three known contagious cancers. DFTD kills Tasmanian devils by the tumors interfering with the animals’ feeding, causing them to eventually starve to death. Scientists have been struggling to find a solution to a problem that could rapidly spell the end of yet another unique endemic marsupial species. The Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger, died out in the 20th century due to a variety of factors, including being shot by farmers and bounty hunters, competition with introduced wild dogs and a disease resembling distemper. One effort to preserve Tasmanian devils is an ambitious breeding program involving foreign zoos, in which 20 initial devils will be sent abroad. If the program shows promise, up to 100 specimens will be sent to zoos in Europe, North America and Japan. It is hoped that the program will spread awareness of the Tasmanian devil’s plight and raise funds for the effort to save it. Another aspect to the plan is to raise a significant population of disease-free devils to repopulate Tasmania while the disease eventually wipes out sick, quarantined members of the species. Tasmania itself is opening two new state-of-the-art breeding facilities for Tasmanian devils, which will contribute to the captive population. Read more about that in the Mercury. Further hope lies in new drug treatments, which have shown to be effective against the facial tumors associated with DTFD. The drug, named EBC-46, is derived from a plant found only in Australia’s tropical rainforests – another solid argument for the importance of their preservation. Unfortunately the drug can only be used on captive Tasmanian devils and is not applicable to those in the wild. For more information visit the Save the Tasmanian Devil website. source first photo from Nat Geo -- source link

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