Ep. 422: Can Genomics Save the Taz?

Guest: Dr. Carolyn Hogg, Save the Tasmanian Devil Program

"The Tasmanian devil is a less than cuddly carnivorous marsupial with an international reputation, thanks to Looney Tunes.

The “Taz” appeared in cartoons in 1954 and was still on television well into the 90s. The devil is important to Tasmania as a tourism attractor because people come from all over the world to see it.

In 1941, the devils became officially protected by the government of Australia. Unfortunately, that protection isn’t protecting their health. Since the late 1990s, devil facial tumour disease has dramatically reduced the devil’s numbers and now threaten the survival of the species. In 2008, the devils were declared an endangered species. In an effort to save them, the Australian government started to send Tasmanian devils to zoos around the world as part of the government’s Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

For the past 12 years, Dr. Carolyn Hogg has been working with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, utilizing genomics as a vital tool to save this endangered marsupial. Dr. Hogg is a conservation biologist who has been working with threatened species for over twenty five years. Hogg is the science lead for the national Threatened Species Initiative, a program generating genomic resources for Australia’s threatened species, as well as co-lead of the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group at the University of Sydney.

We invited Dr Hogg to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the role genomics is playing in an all-out effort to save the Tasmanian devil.