The Tasmanian devil, the largest living marsupial predator, is under threat of extinction from a mysterious disease that causes disfiguring facial tumours.

Credit: Wikipedia

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SYDNEY: A cancer that causes facial tumours in Australia's iconic Tasmanian devil has brought the carnivorous marsupial to the brink of extinction, an Australian researcher says.

According to Hamish McCallum, a zoologist at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, the disease - which usually results in death six months after the appearance of the first lesions - could lead to the extinction of the species within a decade.

"I won't say that it's the most likely outcome," said McCallum, "but I think at this stage there is an unacceptable risk that we may lose all populations on mainland Tasmania … and I think probably in the next 10 years."

Populations of the animal have already been ravaged by the mysterious disease, the cause of which remains unknown. But McCallum said that it appeared to have originated in just one animal - spreading widely through contact with other animals, mostly by biting.

"It would be some form of weird mutation," he said of the disease. Animals biting each other seems to be the most likely explanation at the moment and a lot of biting occurs during mating." McCallum added there was no evidence to suggest the disease had spread to other species.

McCallum, who is this week attending the largest conference on the issue since the disease was discovered in 1996, likened the illness to AIDS in humans for its ability to destroy entire populations.

"It's very different biologically from AIDS but it seems almost uniformly fatal," he said. "There are virtually no cases were animals have survived for more than six months with the disease."

The Tasmanian devil is found only on the island state south of the Australian mainland. According to McCallum, in some places the disease is estimated to have reduced numbers by as much as 70 per cent.

Early European settlers named the feisty marsupial the 'devil' for its spine-chilling screeches, dark colouring and reputed bad temper which, along with its monstrously powerful jaws, made it appear incredibly fierce.

Fearful that the entire Tasmanian devil population could be wiped out by the mysterious illness, environmental authorities recently took four colonies of healthy animals off the island and placed them in zoos in mainland Australia.

They are also removing the diseased animals from the wild to prevent the spread of the malignant tumours, which grow large enough to interfere with feeding, and can lead to rotting of the jaw.

The Tasmanian devil, popularised as 'Taz' in Looney Tunes cartoons, is now being given a helping hand by Warner Bros. The company which owns the cartoons is allowing Australian officials to sell plush toy versions of Taz to help raise funds for research to save the animal.