Evolution down under - September 2008, updated June 2013
If you've seen images of it on the news or in the paper, you won't soon forget it. Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) causes bulging cancerous lumps and lesions to erupt around the face and neck often causing enough deformation to make seeing or eating difficult. While it may be something of a relief to learn that this fatal disease affects only Tasmanian devils, marsupial carnivores of Tasmania, its impact on that population has been staggering. The disease was first observed by a wildlife photographer in 1996 and, since then, has reduced the total devil population by half and in some areas, by as much as 90%! Tasmanian devils were recently listed as endangered and could become extinct in the wild in the next few decades ...
Evo Connection slide sets
This series of short slide sets explain several basic biology topics in evolutionary terms. Each set includes notes to help you present every slide.
A fisheye view of the tree of life
Explore our interactive fish evolutionary tree to learn about amazing innovations that have evolved in the different lineages.
This site was created by the University of California Museum of Paleontology with support provided by the National Science Foundation (grant no. 0096613) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (grant no. 51003439).