On a research trip to Tasmania and Australia, author Patent met scientists and others responding to a threat to Tasmanian Devils called Devil Facial Tumor Disease. The often fatal disease has had a significant impact on the population of Tasmanian Devils in the wild. The multifaceted response to save the Devils includes capturing and breeding healthy Devils with the hope of eventually reintroducing them into the wild, research into the disease itself, and the development of experimental treatments. There is also ample information here about these often misunderstood creatures, which are far more social, and less fierce, than typically believed. A font a bit larger than typical “Scientists in the Field” books makes this volume more accessible to a slightly younger audience than most others in the series. In addition to lively photographs, the enthusiastic narrative includes the author’s “What I Learned” summary at the end of each chapter, which makes key points memorable while also modeling this learning technique. (Ages 9–13)

In this addition to the critically acclaimed Scientist in the Field series, Dorothy Patent follows the scientists trying to put a stop to a gruesome disease before it's too late. Tasmanian devils are dying at an alarming rate from a type of tumor that appears to be contagious. What scientists are learning while researching the Tasmanian devil has potential to affect all animals, and even humans, as they learn more about how to prevent and hopefully eradicate certain genetic diseases.

In 1995, a deadly disease began sweeping across the Australian island state of Tasmania, killing every infected Tasmanian devil. The disease moved so fast that some scientists feared the species would be wiped out in the wild within a few decades.

Where did this disease, named Devil Facial Tumor Disease, come from? What caused it--a virus, bacteria, or something else? How did it pass from one devil to another? What could be done to fight it?

When author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent learned of the race to save the devil from her friend, Australian geneticist Jenny Graves, she felt compelled to travel to Australia to learn firsthand from scientists what they were finding out about these iconic Tasmanian animals and what they were doing to help it from disappearing in the wild.

Follow Dorothy as she takes readers on a fascinating journey into the Australian mainland and Tasmania, visiting parks and wildlife refuges and joining geneticist, ecologists, and other researchers as they work tirelessly to save Tasmania's unique icon.