This Looney Tunes Character Is Now In Very Real Danger

Tasmanian Devils are this planet's last large marsupial carnivores, and they are fighting for their survival from a long deceased she devil. If these small dog-size creatures succumb, we will have lost a proud species like we did in the past with the thylacine.

Do you remember those cartoons we used to watch when we were little? The Looney Toons and in that group of colorful characters there was Taz the Tasmanian devil. It is sad to think that the creatures that this lovable character was modeled after are facing extinction not only from humans but from a form of cancer called DFTD.

The Tasmanian devil used to live on mainland Australia and as its name entails on the island of Tasmania. These small creatures went extinct on mainland Australia over four hundred years ago. Currently these animals can only be found in Tasmania. They live in forest, woodland and agricultural areas of northern, eastern and central Tasmania. Tasmanian devils will often nest in dens, logs, even animal carcasses when they are too tired to finish eating them. The Tasmanian devil is small, about nine to twenty-three pounds. They are black with a white stripe on their chest and flank, they have small red ears and females of the species have a pouch. It’s hard to believe that Tasmanian devil young start out about the size of a grain of rice and has to crawl against up to thirty siblings to be one of a lucky four that get to a milk teat. The rest are usually eaten by the mother. (The Most Extreme episode 2). The mother devil gives birth to her tiny, undeveloped babies, called imps, which are pink and hairless and remain in her pouch for close to four months.(San Diego Zoo) When the imps get to their mothers pouch and attach themselves to a teat and don’t let go for the first their struggle is not over yet. During the hundred days the imps are in the pouch; they cannot relax their hold on a teat and are often dragged along underneath their mother as she travels while still attached to her nipples. (San Diego Zoo) The mother devil started out with thirty young and that number shrank to four even though there are four teats that doesn’t mean that all four babies come out of the pouch alive it more common for a she-devil to have two or three babies with her. The baby devils climb on the mothers back as she walk around to gather and search for food. The baby’s usually are independent from the mother after nine months and they are ready to breed when they reach the age of two and they live to the age of eight. The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus: dog-headed pouched-dog) is a large carnivorous marsupial now believed to be extinct. It was the only member of the family Thylacinidae to survive into modern times. It is also known as the Tasmanian Tiger or Tasmanian Wolf. (Evans, Online) The thylacine, also called the Tasmanian tiger, was the largest marsupial carnivore until it went extinct due to the colonization of Australia, competition for food, and the species was finally wiped out because farmers thought that they were stealing livestock.

The Tasmanian devil survived the initial wave of human colonization on the island of Tasmania,unlike the thylacine. They used to be considered a nuisance and a company called Van Diemen’s Land Co. in 1830 even put up a bounty if you removed the devils from their property twenty five cents for each male and thirty five cents for each female. The main human-related threats to these animals are cars, introduced species, and habitat loss. Tasmanian devils have a tendency to scavenge food from the road. When these animals go in the road usually at night they stay in the road to eat the road kill. Whether it’s fresh or has been there for days, they will try to eat it. Some devils will even take a nap inside of their meals. If the animal that a devil is sleeping in gets hit a second time or if a devil is eating out in the middle of a road then they may get hit by a car. An introduced species that threatens Tasmanian devils is the red fox. The European red fox was brought to Tasmania for hunting. The foxes soon got out of control in main land Australia, the only place where they aren’t found in large numbers is Tasmania. The foxes compete for the same food, den, and may even prey on Tasmanian devils. The foxes will also scavenge food that the Tasmanian devils eat like rodents, marsupials, and birds. Foxes live in the same types of dens as the Tasmanian devils they also raise their young in them. As human populations expand in Tasmania the habitat for the diverse animal species including the devils decreases. This puts animal and human conflict to a high; it can also lead to the extinction of a species. A loss of habitat means that they are losing their homes, the animals that they feed on and they are in danger of going extinct not all animals are capable of coexisting with humans.

The disease effecting Tasmanian devils is a rare form of cancer. It passes from devil to devil fairly easily because they lack major genetic diversity “DFTD is extremely unusual: it is one of only four known naturally occurring transmissible cancers. It is transmitted like a contagious disease between individuals through biting and other close contact.” (Save the Tasmanian devil). The cancer forms in tumors on the face and that’s how it got its name, Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD). It is believed that the tumors originate from Schwann cells. It travels from devil to devil by biting; the small pieces of tumor break off and implant themselves in the bite wounds. The genetic code for the tumors is always female with mangled up genes missing number two and having about four extra genes. It’s passed more often during mating season due to the fact that the devils tend to bite each other on the face. The more aggressive the devil means that the animal’s chances of getting the disease is higher. The areas where the disease was first spotted in 1996 have had about a fifty percent population decline each year. The wild population of Tasmanian devils has declined about eighty percent since 1996. Though not well documented in the past the Tasmanian devil has had major population declines and some people believe that this is a naturally occurring virus. The after major die offs Tasmanian devils seem to take 30 years to recover the population naturally land mark years of some documented plague and crash of the Tasmanian devil are 1860, 1900, and 1940. The disease usually kills infected devils within a few months of it becoming visible. The devils die because the tumors eventually become make it hard to feed. The devils infected more often than not starve to death. “In response to DFTD, Tasmanian devils have changed their reproductive habits. Before the outbreak, females started breeding at two years old. Now they breed by the end of their first year--and often die of DFTD soon afterward.” (Insurance Population). They would usually get three breeding cycles in their life time that has now been reduced to one.

In order to save the species from becoming extinct, healthy wild individuals have been sent to zoos around the world in breeding programs. Some wild individuals have developed a partial immunity to the disease. Infected devils are released back into the wild so they can have a chance at becoming immune to the cancer. Dr. Rodrigo Hermani from devil dynasty catches a female devil called El Calway, a seven year old infected female that has lived with DFTD longer than any other devil caught. She is let go so there’s a small chance the devils can get a symbiotic relationship with their cancer. There is also a study for a type of vaccine that would make devils immune to the disease. “The fight to save the Tasmanian Devil and re-establish healthy populations in the wild takes an important step forward with the announcement in July 2015 of field trials of a potentially game-changing vaccine against the Devil Facial Tumor Disease. As part of the Wild Devil Recovery Project, 19 devils have received the immunization and will be released into Narawntapu National Park in Northern Tasmania in September this year (Insurance Population)." The devil population in response to the disease has changed instead of breeding at the end of their second year the devils have begun to breed earlier and often die after their young are raised. Professor Greg woods of the University of Tasmania and his team discovered a dyeing method for dyeing cancer cells of the devils and they have applied some of the dyeing techniques on humans too. On Maria Island, devils were released so that they could recoup their populations in the wild eight females and seven males. By 2013 the population on Maria Island has expanded to over seventy animals.

This lovable animal will soon only be able to be viewed in zoos and on television like Taz if we don’t do anything. They are this planet's last of their kind and they are fighting a disease that even humans want to overcome. Humans are hurting the species but they are also helping it trying for a cure and collecting healthy devils. This species will soon see a new light.