Are Tasmanian Devils Endangered? The Facial Tumor Crisis

What is the Tasmanian devil’s conservation status?

The Tasmanian devil was considered common for most of the 20th century. The IUCN rated it as Lower Risk/Least Concern in 1996, the same year the disease was first photographed. As the cancer spread, the species was reassessed, and the IUCN assessment published in 2008 moved it straight to Endangered, the second-highest category for species still living in the wild.

Endangered means the species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild. For an explanation of the full set of IUCN categories, see our guide to endangered animals.

Devil facial tumor disease explained

Devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD, is one of only a handful of cancers known to spread between animals like an infection. The tumor cells themselves are passed on, mainly when devils bite each other’s faces during feeding squabbles and the mating season. Devils have very low genetic diversity, so their immune systems often fail to recognize the foreign cancer cells.

The disease causes large tumors on the face, mouth and neck that often spread to other organs. Affected devils struggle to eat and usually die within about six months of the first visible signs. Strong, dominant adults that fight more often are especially likely to be infected.

There are two separate forms:

• DFT1, first recorded in 1996 at Mount William in northeastern Tasmania. It has since spread across most of the island.
• DFT2, a completely different tumor detected in 2014 in southern Tasmania, near the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. It is so far limited to that region.

Only parts of the far west and southwest of Tasmania stayed free of the disease for long, and the front of the outbreak continues to move.

How much have numbers fallen?

Counting a nocturnal, shy animal is hard, so all figures are estimates. In the mid-1990s, some estimates put the wild population at well over 100,000, though experts now think those figures were too high.

A large study published in 2021, which combined 25 years of trapping and camera data, estimated that devils numbered more than 50,000 before the disease spread and had fallen to fewer than 20,000 by 2020. In some places where the disease arrived early, local declines exceeded 90%.

The same study found that the decline had slowed, and that devils were not disappearing completely from infected areas as some early models had feared. The disease has also changed devil life: in infected areas few devils live past age 2 or 3, and many females now breed only once, at a younger age.

Other threats to Tasmanian devils

Disease is not the only problem:

• Road traffic. Devils often feed on roadkill at night and are dark and hard for drivers to see. Studies in the early 2000s estimated that a few thousand devils were killed on roads each year.
• Low genetic diversity. Thousands of years of isolation on an island have left devils genetically very similar to each other, which may make them more vulnerable to disease.
• Persecution in the past. Bounties and poisoning from the 1830s onward pushed devils very low before they were protected by law in 1941. Illegal killing still happens locally, but it is not considered a major threat today.

How are Tasmanian devils being saved?

In 2003 the Tasmanian and Australian governments set up the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. Its main tool is an “insurance population”: hundreds of disease-free devils kept in zoos, wildlife parks and fenced sanctuaries, managed to keep as much genetic diversity as possible, so the species cannot be lost even if the wild population crashes.

In late 2012, disease-free devils were released on Maria Island, off Tasmania’s east coast. The population grew quickly and has supplied animals for release back into Tasmania. The island devils have had side effects, however: reports from bird groups indicate the island’s little penguin colony collapsed after devils arrived, a reminder that moving predators carries risks.

In 2020, the conservation group Aussie Ark released 26 devils into a 400-hectare (990-acre) fenced sanctuary at Barrington Tops, New South Wales, the first devils on the Australian mainland in about 3,000 years. Joeys were born there the following year.

Other work includes:

• Vaccine research. Scientists are testing vaccines and immune treatments against DFTD, but there is no proven cure yet.
• Road safety. Virtual fencing devices that flash and beep when cars approach, warning signs and lower speed limits in hot spots aim to cut road deaths.
• Genetic studies. Research since 2016 has found genetic changes in some surviving wild devils that may help them resist the cancer, and a small number of devils have shown tumors shrinking on their own.

Will Tasmanian devils go extinct?

Most scientists now think extinction in the near future is unlikely, because wild devils have persisted in infected areas and the insurance population is secure. But the species remains far below its former numbers and faces two cancers with no cure.

Its fate matters beyond Tasmania. As the island’s top native predator and scavenger, the devil helps clean up carcasses and may limit feral cats. To learn more about the animal behind the headlines, read why it is called a Tasmanian devil, or compare its situation with another Australian marsupial in are koalas endangered?.