Little Devils - Big Worries

Tasmanian devils are meat eating marsupials

Far away on a remote part of the World called Tasmania island, there are some small marsupial devils left from what was once a DEVIL's ISLAND.

With a funny look and a small aggressive pose TAZ's are always looking for a fight where they can challenge their mates for a little bite of food or for claiming a little bit more of their territory.

Once roamed these little devils were spread widely across Australia and on islands around the coast but recently there was a set back on the species. Tasmanian devils have suffered greatly from a mysterious cancer that appears to be passed directly from animal to animal by biting.

The disease causes terrible tumours around the face and is always fatal, killing the host about five months after the first signs of the disease.
Around half the wild devil population has succumbed in the last 10 years.
Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, which is the only wildlife center in an isolated disease-free area, is involved in a number of research projects to help solve the problem.

On the last few days news came public regarding some recent studies where the so called "cancer" may have it's origin on a parasite caught  on water.

Also like a bona fide parasite, it uses the host's natural behaviour to spread itself, in this case the devil's insatiable appetite for violence.

The question is: Are cancers parasites because they live off the host?" scientists say
"The thing about the cancer that us humans get is that once the human dies or recovers the cancer dies as well, whereas this tumour goes from host to host."

The origin of the disease has been traced to a single cell in a single female devil in the 1990s but it is unknown how she contracted it.
Scientists are in a race against the clock to find a cure, with some estimates suggesting devils in the wild could be extinct in 25 years, and there have been few breakthroughs in slowing the spread.
from here