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Until relatively recently Tasmanian devils were surprisingly abundant, but now they are an endangered species thanks to two transmissible cancers that are spread through biting. The second cancer was only discovered two years ago and since then Elizabeth Murchison and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge in the UK have been studying both cancers in great detail. It appears that the cancers originated in two different animals – one male and one female. The team is now looking to see if new human cancer treatments will work in the Tasmanian Devil population, so far the lab tests are promising.

(Image: Tasmanian Devil with a cancerous growth on its head, Credit: University of Cambridge/PA Wire.)