Tasmanian Devils There are always too many interesting animal facts to include in each Daisy Dreamer story. I pick a few, and leave the rest.

Sometimes there are facts that are interesting, but just not appropriate for the comic. One of them has to do with Tasmanian devils -- the animal Daisy turns into in her summer adventure. And it's a sad one.

The Tasmanian devils are in trouble, and they might soon be extinct. It's all because of a mysterious illness called Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease. It's a kind of cancer that causes tumours on the animals' faces and mouths. After several months they can no longer eat, and they die of starvation. The population of Tasmanian Devils has dropped by about half.

It seems that the disease spreads through saliva. Unfortunately, the devils do bite each other, causing it to spread fast.

To save the devils, some people are trying to keep some healthy animals separate from the rest of the population. There's also a plan to take healthy Tasmanian devils and put them on an island that's now a wildlife preserve. (The problem with that plan is that we don't know what the devils will do to the eco-system.)

If you want to know more about Tasmanian devils and this disease, visit the Save the Tasmanian Devil website.

Labels: Animal facts, Daisy Dreamer, Summer digest

  ¶ 11:07 AM