When I last wrote about Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) this past December, the species was in pretty dire straits. A contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) had, at that point, wiped out at least 70 percent of devils in the wild, forcing scientists to resort to captive breeding, a sperm bank and [...]

Last year we learned that climate change could soon make Australia too hot for the cold-loving, iconic platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Now we have word of a new threat to these unique, egg-laying mammals: inbreeding, which has put the platypuses living on two small Australian islands at enhanced risk of disease. According to research published March [...]

A diseased and emaciated Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) was found last week on a golf course in the town of Zeehan on Tasmania’s west coast. Like many of its kind, the animal suffered from the deadly, transmittable cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), which has wiped out at least 70 percent and possibly [...]

Not every story about endangered species is horrible. Sometimes there’s some good news mixed in with the bad. Although none of these stories is worth dancing in the streets over, each nonetheless merits at least a little bit of celebration. Tasmanian devil DNA Scientist from Penn State University and other institutions have completed sequencing the [...]

Are Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) doomed to extinction in the wild? The infectious cancer known as devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) has killed off as much as 90 percent of the world’s Tasmanian devils since it was first observed in 1996 (up from 70 percent when we last wrote about the species nine months ago). [...]

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) have been killed in the past 10 years by an infectious cancer called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). So far, no cure has been found, and the disease has spread to almost every corner of the remote island off the southeastern coast of Australia, the [...]

The deadly, contagious cancer that puts Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) at risk of extinction may have originated in another species, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science. The cancer, known as devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), has wiped out nearly 70 percent of the world’s Tasmanian devils in the past 10 years. Once [...]

It’s been a busy week — full of both good news and bad — for Australia’s endangered species. One of the country’s most endangered mammals, the Victorian brush-tailed rock wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) now has a chance at survival thanks to an innovative breeding program at Adelaide Zoo. The process takes days-old joeys and transfers them [...]

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) have been wiped out in the past 10 years by a contagious cancer known as devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). Now a new test could help determine which devils are carrying the disease before symptoms show up, enabling conservationists to move cancer-free creatures to quarantined [...]

A killer cancer that is threatening to wipe Tasmanian devils off the map for good has been spreading—from an original infected female 15 years ago—via live cancer cells, according to evidence from genome sequences of the cancer and the animal, published online Thursday in Cell. Finding out how this happened could help save this species [...]

A pilot episode of It Ain’t Rocket Science, an original, family-friendly television show that Time Warner Cable has created as part of its Connect a Million Minds venture, aired June 24 on NY1. The program shares information about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) topics, aiming to cultivate a love of science in children through [...]

Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) have been besieged by a highly contagious cancer that has been pushing the species ever-closer to extinction. In the past 15 years, Devil Facial Tumor Disease has spread throughout Australia’s Tasmania island, killing most Tasmanian devils that catch it. In an effort to help save the biggest living carnivorous marsupial, conservationists [...]