Mystery cancer killing grouchy Tasmanian devils
 |
Tasmanian devils have
jaws as strong as crocodiles.
Story Tools
 We suspect it spreads by biting when
the animals quarrel or mate sexually.  |
|
-- Nick Mooney, a wildlife
biologist
| | |
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- A mysterious cancer is killing Australia's
Tasmanian devils, whose spine-chilling screeches, dark color and reputed
bad temper prompted early settlers to give them their chilling name,
wildlife officials said.
The world's largest carnivorous marsupial is the size of a stocky small
dog but has jaws as strong as a crocodile which allow it to eat up to half
its body weight in 30 minutes. An adult can weigh up to 26 pounds (12
kgs).
On Australia's southern island state of Tasmania -- the only place
where you can find Tasmanian devils -- they are the dominant predator but
are now being stalked by a disease that has cut some population groups by
85 percent.
Spreading widely
Wildlife officials said the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
population peaked at around 150,000 to 200,000 in 1996 when the cancer
first appeared, but they now fear the cancer may kill two thirds of the
population by 2006.
The disease has spread widely in the eastern and central parts of
Tasmania over the last two years, causing huge tumors that block the
animals' eyesight, hearing or mouths, leaving them unable to feed and
starving to death.
"We suspect it spreads by biting when the animals quarrel or mate
sexually," said Nick Mooney, a wildlife biologist with the nature
conservation branch of the state's wildlife department.
'Nothing more we can do'
The disease, thought to be caused by a virus, will not wipe out the
devil as such diseases often spare a few isolated animals who reproduce
and replenish the population.
"We may find there is nothing more we can do than isolate parts of the
population," Mooney said.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.
Tasmanian devils 
Responder a este mensaje
