due to the decreased life expectancy of the devils with dftd, affected individuals have begun breeding at younger ages in the wild, with reports that many only live to participate in one breeding cycle. hence, tasmanian devils appear to have changed breeding habits in response to the disease; females had previously begun to breed annually at age two, for about three more years, dying thereafter of a variety of causes. populations are now characterised by onset of breeding at age one, dying of dftd, on average, shortly thereafter. social interactions have been seen to contribute to spread of dftd in a local area.