Ferocious little Tasmanian Devils have been tussling for centuries, but recently their harmless bites are propagating a scary threat.
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Contagious cancer has been spreading through the population of marsupials on Tasmania, so biologist have been relocating them to Maria Island in an attempt to protect the species. Scientists were stunned to discover when they tested the growths on the Devils that the DNA didn’t match the host, but rather other animals, suggesting that one infected devil had transmitted the cancer to another. Only one other type of contagious cancer, a tumor in dogs, has ever been recorded.
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