• Question: Is there any evidence yet to show that animals can have cancer?

    Asked by Paula to Tora, Clare, Arthur on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Hi there Paula,

      Yes nearly every animal we know can get cancer and quite a lot of them do and even plants can get a type of cancer!

      In fact the most interesting animals are the animals that can’t get cancer because that’s super rare!

      There’s an animal called the Naked Mole Rat (which are SOOOO cute because they’re so ugly!) that doesn’t get cancer because it has a special type of sugar which stops the cancer cells sticking together and (as far as scientists know) it’s pretty much the only animal that can’t get cancer.

      Because of these naked mole rats we have a BUNCH of cool treatments coming out from different labs!

    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Unfortunately yes, my dog died of cancer.

      But the good thing is that many cancer treatments in humans could also work in animals so we have a chance to help them.

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