According to the article in Scientific America, the lowly Tasmanian Devils are doomed to extinction. Seems they’re suffering from… are you ready? Devil Facial Tumor Disease, or DFTD. Who in the world comes up with these names? Remember when all the bats were dying of “white nose syndrome?” It was then discovered that the “white” was a fungus, and then the mystery started. What did cause many millions of bats to die? One website actually said this:
“”The mysterious disease is called white nose syndrome. The reason it’s called that is because of smudges of fungus develops on the mouth and wings of hibernating bats. It makes the bats starve to death before they awake for spring. In 2006, the syndrome showed up in a cave outside of Albany, N.Y. The syndrome wasn’t documented until 2007. Some of the states that have white nose syndrome are New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. The cause of death is really unknown. Scientists are guessing while the bats are hibernating that the syndrome is causing them to starve.”
Starve? Can they be serious? The cause of death is unknown? Do you suppose…. oh, I don’t know… maybe fungus caused their deaths? Even when it’s growing on the subjects’ noses, our scientists are lost. Imagine sitting in your doctor’s office with fungus growing on your face and having him declare that you have a mysterious disease. It’s not fiction, is it?
So what, may I ask you, do you think is killing our Tasmanian Devils? Please respond!