Progress Made on Tasmanian Devil Illness

October 9, 2007 By MERAIAH FOLEY, Associated Press Writer Progress Made on Tasmanian Devil Illness (AP)

In this undated handout photo from Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, a healthy Tasmanian Devil which is unaffected from a deadly disease that is driving the carnivorous marsupial toward possible extinction. Researchers estimate the wild population has fallen from 140,000 in the 1990s to 80,000 due to Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), a mystery illness that creates grotesque tumors on the animals' snouts that lead to starvation within a year. (AP Photo/Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries)

(AP) -- Australian researchers have made a breakthrough discovery in understanding a rapidly spreading facial cancer that has decimated the country's Tasmanian Devil population.



Content from The Associated Press expires 15 days after original publication date. For more information about The Associated Press, please visit www.ap.org .

Similar stories from PHYSorg:


Tasmanian devils face extinction

created Oct 03, 2007 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (14) | comments 0

Scientists try to save the Tasmanian devil

created Jan 29, 2008 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 0

Study: Tasmanian Devil may face extinction

created Jun 29, 2006 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (17) | comments 0

Tasmanian devils listed as endangered in Australia

created May 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Social networking study reveals threat to Tasmanian devils

created Aug 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 4 /5 (6 votes)


October 9, 2007 all stories

Comments: 0

4 /5 (6 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this


Other News

Investigating muscle repair, scientists follow their noses

Investigating muscle repair, scientists follow their noses

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 52 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

When muscle cells need repair, they use odor-detecting tools found in the nose to start the process, researchers have discovered.


Simple test could offer cheap solution to detecting landmines

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 32 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists have developed a simple, cheap, accurate test to find undetected landmines.


Birds 'See' Earth's Magnetic Field

Birds 'See' Earth's Magnetic Field

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 27 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

When birds migrate over long distances -- sometimes thousands of miles -- they usually end up in exactly the same place year after year. Such accurate feats of navigation, accomplished by millions of birds ...


Cautious conservation: How to ensure that slowing global warming will protect biodiversity

Biology / Ecology

created 22 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

While it is clear that massive destruction of tropical rainforests poses a serious threat to the incredibly rich biodiversity found on Earth, other hazards are not so explicit. An international group of prominent scientists ...


Right-handed chimpanzees provide clues to the origin of human language

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 2 hours ago | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Most of the linguistic functions in humans are controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. A study of captive chimpanzees at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Atlanta, Georgia), reported in the January 2010 issue ...