Posted on 04/16/2015 10:30:11 PM PDT by Utilizer
Tasmanian devils must evolve to be less aggressive if they are to avoid becoming extinct, suggests new research.
The study sheds new light on an infectious cancer threatening to wipe out the species' wild population, which only exists on the Australian island of Tasmania. The tumours caused by the devastating disease, known as devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), interfere with feeding and affected animals often starve to death.
Rodrigo Hamede and his team at the University of Tasmania investigated the connection between the infection of DFTD, which is spread when one animal bites another, and the number of bites that an animal received.
They found that devils with fewer bites – the more aggressive ones – were more likely to develop the disease. "Our results, that devils with fewer bites are more likely to develop DFTD, were very surprising and counterintuitive," said Hamede. "In most infectious diseases there are so-called super-spreaders, a few individuals responsible for most of the transmission. But we found the more aggressive devils, rather than being super-spreaders, are super-receivers.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
What a concept. :)
I sense a hint to humans here.
You grow wiser, grasshopper.
Probably because they bite more devils, and therefore are more likely to bite a sick one. Duh.
I think if Tasmanian Devils would quit trying to eat American rabbits, their problems would cease.
The rabbits bug them.
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