Tasmanian devils are currently at risk of extinction from a high prevalence of d

Question

Tasmanian devils are currently at risk of extinction from a high prevalence of devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), a fatal infectious cancer. In 2009, Hamede and colleagues put “proximity loggers” on individuals in a population of devils. These electronic collars used radio signals to record when individuals were close to each other. DFTD is directly transmitted, so this physical proximity gives a good indication of which individuals interact closely enough to possibly transmit the disease. Hamede et al. found that within breeding season, male-female interactions are the most frequent and interactions with individuals of the same sex are much more rare. Outside of the breeding season, female-female interactions are the most frequent, and males do not interact much with anyone of either sex. Based on this information, give a verbal description of how you would model DFTD. Be sure to justify your answer.

Explanation / Answer

This information itself explains why Tasmanian devils are on the verge of extinction. Outside the breeding season, only female-female interactions are there. If any one female is infected, it will transmit the disease to another female partner. When the breeding season returns, these affected females then transmit the disease to their male partners as well. So, in due course of time, the entire population will be infected and thus become dead and extinct.100% mortality occurs in about 12-18 months. DFTD is a parasitic cancer where the infection is transmitted from animal to animal. Generally, the infection is transmitted by biting each other with canines or sharing infected food with each other.

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