On Friday, Australian researchers revealed that they have managed to crack the genetic origin of a deadly cancer form that is currently threatening to wipe out the entire population of Tasmanian Devils, suggesting that it might just now be possible to secure the animal's future.

According to revelations shared by the Australian National University scientists, they have unlocked the "genetic fingerprint" of the highly contagious cancer which works by disfiguring the animal's face so badly that it cannot eat, and thus it starves to death.

"It's a uniquely horrible cancer, and it is critical to know about it at the genetic level. It has wiped out around 60 percent of the world's devils and is likely to lead to their extinction in the wild within
30 to 50 years", said Professor Jenny Graves.

For the sake of study, the researchers analyzed the genes active in both sick and healthy Tasmanian Devils, and they then discovered that the origin of the disease was a tumor of a kind of a cell that generally "wraps itself around nerves to insulate them".

"We realized the tumor profile was fairly unusual and included genes that made some strange proteins. The good news is that one of the active proteins is easy to detect and it will give us the chance to diagnose the cancer early, which is important for setting up cancer-free 'insurance populations", Professor Graves shared.