Tasmanian Devils

Evolving to become less aggressive could be key to saving the Tasmanian Devil, famed for its ferocity, from extinction, research suggests. This species is being wiped out by the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a fatal infectious cancer spread by biting. A study found out that less often a devil gets bitten, the more likely it is infected with this disease.

They came to this conclusion from three discoveries: The level of bites were similar at both sites, devils with fewer bites were more likely to be infected with this disease, and most tumours occurred in the devil's mouths. "This means that the more aggressive devils who have less chance of getting bitten bit the tumours of the less aggressive devils and become infected" Dr. Hamede explained.

However, there are currently no cure or vaccine to this disease.

I feel that understanding how this infectious disease is key to controlling them, but also feel a little sense of lost hope as scientist have found out that studying it in animals is very difficult. However, this news has shown that it is still possible to study these animals and that might be cure for other animals in the future.