Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Aussies Warm to Snarling, Vanishing Tasmanian Devil

Once-reviled creature in trouble

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 3, 2011 11:45 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Tasmanian devil is nobody’s idea of lovable. The combative screeching marsupial was once the most reviled animal in Australia. But now that the creature is on the brink of extinction, Australians have found a well of sympathy for the little devil, the LA Times reports. The devil’s snarling face now graces bars, coffee shops and packaging all around the country, and schoolchildren routinely visit devil sanctuaries to learn about the beast.

They’re like “a little Aussie fighter,” said one geneticist working to save them. “There’s something really adorable about little devils.” The devils are dying off rapidly thanks to a mysterious communicable face cancer—it’s passed from devil to devil when they bite each other in the face, which they do disturbingly often. But wildlife officials, haunted by the 1936 extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, are determined to keep the species going. “No one, politicians to scientists, wants to lose the devil on their watch,” the geneticist says.

A Tasmanian Devil is held by a wildlife officer on the grounds of Parliament House on National Threatened Species Day in Canberra, Australia, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Graham)

A Tasmanian devil is pictured with a cancerous growth on its face in this file photo. (AP Photo/Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water & Environment, HO, File)

A Tasmanian Devil is seen suffering from a deadly disease is seen in this file photo. (AP Photo/Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, HO, File)

A Tasmanian Devil is held by a wildlife officer on the grounds of Parliament House on the National Threatened Species Day in Canberra, Australia, Tuesday Sept. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Graham)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

CLICK BELOW TO VOTE

18%

55%

20%

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

AP Photo

Chef Serves Up … His Own Genitals? (Huff Post)

My Boss Walked in on Me Touching Myself, Now He Won't Stop Flirting (Slate)

This Celebrity May Be the Worst Metrosexual Ever (Bleacher Report)

Has Aston Kutcher Been Sneaking Around with Demi Moore's Daughter? (The Stir)

Which Celebrity Was Attacked By a Former Girlfriend? (NewsOne)

Partner Links

Sponsor Links

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

Showing 3 of 6 comments

HappyHabenero

Apr 4, 2011 3:29 AM CDT

sadly it may boil down to trap and cage and isolate the unaffected disease free ones, in large enough numbers to keep a good genetic sampling...and let nature and hunters wipe out the rest. Once the disease burns it's self out (and hopefully the cause as well) re-introduce them, slowly from breeding stock kept disease free . And hope the source is indeed gone

toeser

Apr 3, 2011 7:45 PM CDT

I was walking on a dark road in Hobart, Tasmania well after dark and heard one of these things snarl. It's enough to put the hair on the back of your neck straight up.

Cat-Lover

Apr 3, 2011 3:40 PM CDT

My recommendation: Dental surgery.

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Rape Conviction Cleared, Thanks to Facebook

80-Year-Old Skydiver Slips Out of Harness

Los Angeles Times (Source Grid »)

Science • Great Finds

endangered species • conservation • Australia • Tasmanian Devil • extinction • marsupial

More Newser Stories

Tasmania Moving Its Devils

As cancer decimates critters, Aussies quarantine them on old prison peninsula

(NEWSER) - The Australian government is stepping in to prevent the Tasmanian Devil from extinction, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the ill-tempered beasties have been dying off thanks to the world’s first contagious cancer, which they transfer by biting each other in the face. So zoologists are now working to quarantine infected devils in a natural prison—the Tasman-Forestier Peninsula. More»

Cancer Clue May Save Tasmanian Devils

Scientists find the origins of fast-spreading disease

(AP) - Hope for Tasmanian devils: Scientists think they've found the origin of a contagious cancer threatening to wipe them out. An international research team picked apart the cancer's genes and discovered that it apparently first arose in cells that protect the animals' nerves. The surprise finding, reported in today's edition of Science, may eventually lead to a vaccine or at least treatments. More»

'Extinct' Species That Are Still Kicking

Scientists find a plethora of animals presumed dead

(NEWSER) - Some 17,291 species are on the brink of extinction, but every so often a creature appears that scientists had already given up on. Above, a bunch of critters that, to quote Monty Python, think they might go for a walk. More»

Koalas Face Extinction by Climate, Chlamydia?

Changing world strips diet-staple eucalyptus of nutrients

(NEWSER) - Australia's koalas face extinction as their population has been decimated by climate change and the loss of trees due to development and wildfires. Six years ago, they were thought to number more than 100,000; today, their count is as low as 43,000. Threats to their diet of eucalyptus leaves are part of the problem—“It's really no tree, no me,” an environmentalist says. Curiously, the BBC also reports that chlamydia has been responsible for many koala deaths. More»

Tumor-Stricken Tasmanian Devils Now 'Endangered'

Australia ups protections for devastated, iconic species

(NEWSER) - The Tasmanian devil, the iconic inhabitant of the island off Australia and the world’s largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, is now officially endangered, reports the BBC. Under attack by a virulent disease characterized by facial tumors, the devil population may be as low as 20,000, down 70% since the mid-1990s. The new status of endangered—changed from "vulnerable"—gives the animals extra protections under Australian law. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Aussies Warm to Snarling, Vanishing Tasmanian Devil

Once-reviled creature in trouble

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

endangered species • conservation • Australia • Tasmanian Devil • extinction • marsupial

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Tasmania Moving Its Devils

As cancer decimates critters, Aussies quarantine them on old prison peninsula

Cancer Clue May Save Tasmanian Devils

Scientists find the origins of fast-spreading disease

'Extinct' Species That Are Still Kicking

Scientists find a plethora of animals presumed dead

Koalas Face Extinction by Climate, Chlamydia?

Changing world strips diet-staple eucalyptus of nutrients

Tumor-Stricken Tasmanian Devils Now 'Endangered'

Australia ups protections for devastated, iconic species

About Us

Site

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?