In this addition to the critically acclaimed Scientist in the Field
series, Dorothy Patent follows the scientists trying to put a stop to a
gruesome disease before it's too late. Tasmanian devils are dying at an
alarming rate from a type of tumor that appears to be contagious. What
scientists are learning while researching the Tasmanian devil has
potential to affect all animals, and even humans, as they learn more
about how to prevent and hopefully eradicate certain genetic diseases.
In 1995, a deadly disease began sweeping across the Australian island
state of Tasmania, killing every infected Tasmanian devil. The disease
moved so fast that some scientists feared the species would be wiped out
in the wild within a few decades.
Where did this disease, named Devil Facial Tumor Disease, come from?
What caused it--a virus, bacteria, or something else? How did it pass
from one devil to another? What could be done to fight it?
When author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent learned of the race to save the devil
from her friend, Australian geneticist Jenny Graves, she felt compelled
to travel to Australia to learn firsthand from scientists what they were
finding out about these iconic Tasmanian animals and what they were
doing to help it from disappearing in the wild.
Follow Dorothy as she takes readers on a fascinating journey into the
Australian mainland and Tasmania, visiting parks and wildlife refuges
and joining geneticist, ecologists, and other researchers as they work
tirelessly to save Tasmania's unique icon.