The existence of carnivorous marsupials on the island of Tasmania threatened by facial tumorTasmanian devil, or better known as the Tasmanian Devil, now entered into the list of endangered animals in Australia. Carnivorous marsupial found only on the island of Tasmania was threatened their existence due to facial tumor attack.
"The disease has killed 70 percent of the entire Tasmanian devil population since 1996," said Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett as quoted in the pages of al-Jazeera television station, Friday, May 22, 2009.
Garrett said the research has been done to stop the spread of this disease. Tasmanian devil as the categorization of endangered animals means that the government provide greater protection against these strong-jawed animals.
Dai University of Sydney researchers have found that the tumor originated from single cells that spread in the Tasmanian devil facial injuries. These animals often bite each other's face when breeding or fighting over food.
Tasmanian devil body does not recognize the tumor as foreign so that the cells did not form an immune response. This causes the facial tumor disease that blocks the Tasmanian devil to eat. Eventually they die of starvation.
Tasmanian Devil doll (Amazon.com)
For five years, the government has spent U.S. $ 7.8 million for research of this disease. The fund is also used for the breeding program. Zoos in mainland Australia continues to breed Tasmanian devil to prevent extinction.
This animal is known worldwide thanks to the character 'Taz' in Looney Tunes cartoon series. Production house Warner Bros., owner of the brands 'Taz' and CNN founder Ted Turner has contributed to the fight against this disease.
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