Tasmanian wildlife biologist Clare Hawkins, says there is no sign of immunity to the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) occurring in the shrinking devil populations of Tasmania.
Her research implies that whatever the original cause of DFTD, it could be spread between the animals when they bite each other while mating.
In fact devils bite each other a lot, including when establishing priority in a group, and especially if dividing up a large dead animal, whether killed by traffic or from natural causes.
Some farmers are now reconciled to the animals for their efficiency in removing dead livestock carcasses from their fields, as well as keeping grain storage areas virtually rodent free.
And naturalists like them because they keep feral cats away from birds by stalking and eating their litters.
Hawkins warns that the biggest threat to Tasmania from the dramatic decline in devil numbers is the opportunity it provides for a fox infestation, in turn threatening native bird life as well as lambing.
A `reserve' breeding stock of disease free Tasmanian devils has now been isolated on a tiny island at Port Arthur and in a range of mainland zoos.
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