2961 x 4441 px | 25,1 x 37,6 cm | 9,9 x 14,8 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
26. November 2009
Ort:
Taroona, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Weitere Informationen:
Sign reading: "Look out for Tango - He stalks you". outside pen for captive Tasmanian Devils in an enclosure at Taroona, outside Hobart, part of a government insurance programme against the extinction of the species in the wild by Devil Facial Tumour Disease, a contagious cancer that causes the animals to starve to death. Tango is known for following the keepers around the pen, and sinking his teeth into their boots... The cancer, one of just a few known to be contagious, is only becoming understood by scientists, but having spread rapidly through the population, with the devil listed as endangered by the IUCN. In December 2009, it was announced that the disease may be related a peripheral nerve cell, called the Schwann cell, which has led some hopes for preserving the devil, at least in terms of quarantine insurance populations.
