Tasmanian Devil Update

[Quokka]

There was either a thread about Tasmanian Devils or at least a discusssion within a thread a little while back concerning a contagious facial tumour has been wiping out huge numbers, in a population that was already under threat, with estimates that the Tasmanian Devil population has now been halved in the last 12 years.

Hope of cure for dying Tasmanian devils | The Australian

Some good news on two fronts, some devils are going to be immune to the tumours and secondly they may be able to translate this into a vaccine that can help at least some of the remaining devils. One report said that there were likely to be three groups. One who, like cedric, has a significantly different immune system and wont be affected by the tumours anyway, one who has an immune system that just won't respond and little can be done to stop the tumours but that a final group may lie in between these two and that vaccines may help here. Mind you at this point that's a lot of hope being placed on one little Cedric .

It's also a worry that with such a huge reduction in population there has to be a lot of genetic diversity being lost for when the next threat happens but it's still really good news that at least some progress is being made and that the Devils are not likely to be wiped out all together.

[tangaloomababe]

Absolutely Quokka. Tasmanian Devils are just the best looking little critters and although not known for the best disposition, they are unique and it would be terrible to loose them. This is indeed good news!!!

[j. d. worthington]

Yes, I recall the discussion thread (though I can't recall the title). And I'm quite glad there's a ray of light here. Thanks for passing that along....

[kyektulu]

I was really pleased when I heard that there is hope for the Tasmanian Devil cancer outbreak and its amazing that it is all down to one called Cedric.

Although reading this disturbed me:

Cedric was captured in western Tasmania last year, along with his half-brother, Clinky.
Both were injected by scientists with dead tumours. Clinky produced no antibodies, but Cedric did and appears to have built-in defences against the mystery illness.
The experiments have now moved up a gear.
Researcher Alex Kriess says the pair have had live cancer cells inserted into their faces.
"They haven't developed a tumour so far," he said. "We injected very few cells so it might take a while until they develop anything that we can see."

[Quokka]

Admitedly none of this is good for Cedric who it seems was on track to live a happy tumour free life although considering he isn't expected to develop tumours it's probably his brother who's more at risk. The other side of the coin is this is the first Devil they've found that shows signs of resistance and as the article says the tumours have wiped out more than half of the total Devil population in only 12 years (I don't know if that's a confirmed figure).

Add to this the usual pressure from loss of habitation and introduced species and the situation is getting critical alarmingly quickly. Humans were directly responsible for the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) less then 100 years ago and I think people are determined to be a little more proactive with what native plants and animals are left.

[Creator]

Cedric how old is Cedric anyway. and does she/he have a mate? I think once they experiment that Cedric is tumour resistant, they might start a breeding program with him as the "father" of the new era Taz Devils....

[the smiling weirwood]

I don't imagine it would be good for the population as a whole to be vaccinated. Sure you save lots of furry animals, but it would be in their best interest to allow only the naturally resistant ones to survive. One can't vaccinate every devil born in the wild. The costs of such an undertaking in time, effort, and money would be huge and completely unnecessary considering that some, like Cedric, would prove naturally immune and survive to propagate.

[Quokka]

I doubt even if they do develop a vaccine that they'd try to vaccinate all animals but I think one danger long term is with such a small population already how much genetic diversity is lost if only the naturally immune ones survive, you may just loss animals that have an advantage to the next threat. Plus so far there's ONE animal that they think may be immune (and some others that are at least somewhat resistance) so not intervening now may mean that we have to intervene later because there are too few left to continue breeding naturally.

At the moment this is all just research and the real work is being done by trying to quarintine areas, educate people etc.

[The Procrastinator]

The puir wee devils are having a time of it aren't they. By the time they get them over this hurdle, they'll probably be having to deal with cane toads or something (sure Tassie's an island, but that's never stopped us before!)

[the smiling weirwood]

If they are driven to extinction naturally then it is any of our concern? Sure we'll lose some cute animals, but millions of species perished before humans ever existed and will continue to do so. But by vaccinating them and allowing this weakness to persist to further generations we could be reducing their future viability, which is just as bad as actually killing them ourselves like what is happening to many endangered species.

[The Procrastinator]

The same could be said for any extinction, but seeing as we with all our vaunted knowledge actually know very little about the balance of nature/ecosystems etc and how it all ticks over, why not "interfere" in this case and see what we can learn? The devils are the largest marsupial carnivore left - it would be a shame to let them die out with a whimper, aside from what the impact on Tasmania's ecosystem would be (as the largest scavenger they are not an insignificant player). I'm not so sure about the driven to extinction naturally bit, either. Our impact on things can be so wide-ranging. Think of it like this - if Earth is a complex machine, and all the living organisms on it have a function in the maintenance of that machine (which they certainly do), who is to know what it takes for the machine to malfunction or even break? We are all part of the machine as a whole and cannot do without it.

[Quokka]

Also the Tassie Devil is a big part of why the fox population isn't growing in tassie, foxes are causing massive problems on the mainland and are a major factor in animals becoming threatened or extinct and there's nothing natural about them being here. So imo keeping the devils about is also a better way of dealing with the foxes then just falling back on baiting etc.

In the end 'cute' has nothing to do with it they're a unique animal that is threatened as a direct result of our presence, sure intervening may change things in other ways but I still think it's better then watching them die out and leaving future generations with a few preserved specimens and a couple of seconds of black and white film, like we did with the Tassie Tiger.

[The Procrastinator]

Now there was a fascinating animal. I did a bit of minor research on them because I wanted to draw one, and thank god for the internet - I stumbled across a kind of "online museum" about the Thylacine where they have all the archival footage online. Incredible. The beasties looked doggish but moved more like a cat. No wonder they couldn't figure out what to call them.