IN WHAT seems like a desperate bid to survive, Tasmanian devils are showing precocious sexual behaviour in populations that have been devastated by the fatal devil facial tumour disease.
Menna Jones of the University of Tasmania in Hobart monitored the age at which females produced their first litter in five populations of Tasmanian devils before and after the disease had become established.
Female Tasmanian devils usually breed at 2, 3 and 4 years old, with up to four pups per litter, then die at 5 years old. The team found that where the disease is established, life expectancy falls to…
