The interaction between wildlife and horses encompasses various ecological, behavioral, and health-related aspects. This topic explores the relationships and dynamics between horses and their natural environments, including interactions with other wildlife species. These interactions can influence behavior, habitat use, and resource competition. Additionally, wildlife can impact equine health through the transmission of diseases and parasites. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the ecological roles, behavioral patterns, and health implications of wildlife interactions with horses.
Wan X, Zhang Z.Climate change and humans are proposed as the two key drivers of total extinction of many large mammals in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but disentangling their relative roles remains challenging owing to a lack of quantitative evaluation of human impact and climate-driven distribution changes on the extinctions of these large mammals in a continuous temporal-spatial dimension. Here, our analyses showed that temperature change had significant effects on mammoth (genus ), rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae), horse (Equidae) and deer (Cervidae). Rapid global warming was the predominant factor...
Mendes JF, Klafke GB, Albano APN, Cabana ÂL, Teles AJ, de Camargo ZP, Xavier MO, Meireles MCA.Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic mycosis that occurs in several Latin American countries, especially in Brazil. It is caused by the thermo-dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides spp. Serological studies to detect animal infection represent an excellent strategy for data on the agent's ecology. Although the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) is an endemic area for PCM in humans, there is scarce information available on the ecology of the agent in the region. This study aimed to investigate the infection by Paracoccidioides lutzii in animals living in RS, Brazil. A total of 85 wild mammals, 20...
Horak IG, Heyne H, Halajian A, Booysen S, Smit WJ.The aim of the study was to determine the species spectrum of ixodid ticks that infest horses and donkeys in South Africa and to identify those species that act as vectors of disease to domestic livestock. Ticks were collected opportunistically from 391 horses countrywide by their owners or grooms, or by veterinary students and staff at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. Ticks were also collected from 76 donkeys in Limpopo Province, 2 in Gauteng Province and 1 in North West province. All the ticks were identified by means of a stereoscopic microscope. Horses were infest...
D'Souza-Anjo M, Christensen BW, Brabender K, Zimmermann W, Kass PH, Schwarzenberger F.The aim of this study was to determine whether concentrations of reproductive steroid hormone metabolites significantly differed between harem stallions and bachelor stallions in the free ranging group of Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) at the Hortobágy National Park in Hungary. Throughout the study, fecal samples were collected from 21 harem stallions and 15 bachelor stallions and analyzed for immunoreactive estrogen and androgen metabolites. Harem stallions demonstrated significantly higher concentrations of estrogen (P < 0.001) and epi-androsterone (P < 0.001), ...
Lopez KM, Fleming GJ, Mylniczenko ND.Reports of equine herpesvirus (EHV) 1 and EHV-9 causing clinical disease in a wide range of species have been well documented in the literature. It is thought that zebras are the natural hosts of EHV-9 both in the wild and in captive collections. Concerns about potential interspecies transmission of EHV-1 and EHV-9 in a mixed species savannah exhibit prompted serologic and polymerase chain reaction surveys. Eighteen Burchell's zebras ( Equus quagga ), 11 Hartmann's mountain zebras ( Equus zebra hartmannae), and 14 Thomson's gazelles ( Eudorcas thomsonii ) cohabitating the same exhibit were exa...
Frölich K, Jandowsky A.The domestic animals descend from various wild ancestors. Thus, for example, of the wolf, the dog (15 000 BC), of the Bezoar goat the goat (10 000 BC), of the Asian mouflon the sheep (10 000 BC), of the wild boar the pig (8000 BC) and of the aurochs the cattle (7000 BC). Domestication has dramatically changed our culture and led to a great diversity of animal breeds. This is a unique cultural and historical treasure, which we have to preserve for future generations. The zoological park Arc Warder is Europe's largest center for rare and endangered domestic animal breeds. Arc Ward...
Dugat T, Zanella G, Véran L, Lesage C, Girault G, Durand B, Lagrée AC, Boulouis HJ, Haddad N.Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of tick-borne fever, a disease with high economic impact for domestic ruminants in Europe. Epidemiological cycles of this species are complex, and involve different ecotypes circulating in various host species. To date, these epidemiological cycles are poorly understood, especially in Europe, as European reservoir hosts (i.e. vertebrate hosts enabling long-term maintenance of the bacterium in the ecosystem), of the bacterium have not yet been clearly identified. In this study, our objective was to explore the presence, the prevalence, and the ge...
McLoughlin PD, Lysak K, Debeffe L, Perry T, Hobson KA.Sea-to-land nutrient transfers can connect marine food webs to those on land, creating a dependence on marine webs by opportunistic species. We show how nitrogen, imported by gray seals, Halichoerus grypus, and traced through stable isotope (δ N) measurements in marram grass, Ammophila breviligulata, significantly alters foraging behavior of a free-roaming megaherbivore (feral horses, Equus ferus caballus) on Sable Island, Canada. Values of δ N correlated with protein content of marram and strongly related to pupping-seal densities, and positively influenced selective foraging by horses. The...
Burnik Šturm M, Ganbaatar O, Voigt CC, Kaczensky P.1. Competition among sympatric wild herbivores is reduced by different physiological, morphological, and behavioral traits resulting in different dietary niches. Wild equids are a rather uniform group of large herbivores which have dramatically declined in numbers and range. Correlative evidence suggests that pasture competition with livestock is one of the key factors for this decline, and the situation may be aggravated in areas where different equid species overlap. 2. The Dzungarian Gobi is currently the only place where two wild equid species coexist and share the range with the domestica...
Timonin ME, Poissant J, McLoughlin PD, Hedlin CE, Rubin JE.The feral horses of Sable Island are a geographically isolated population located ∼160 km off the east coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Because these horses have no contact with domestic animals, have minimal contact with people, and have never received antimicrobials, they offer a unique opportunity to study the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in unmanaged populations. As part of an ongoing multidisciplinary and individual-based monitoring program, we collected feces from 508 geolocalized horses (92% of the total population) between July and September 2014. We selectively cultured Es...
Hall SE, Nixon B, Aitken RJ.Feral horses are a significant pest species in many parts of the world, contributing to land erosion, weed dispersal and the loss of native flora and fauna. There is an urgent need to modify feral horse management strategies to achieve public acceptance and long-term population control. One way to achieve this is by using non-surgical methods of sterilisation, which are suitable in the context of this mobile and long-lived species. In this review we consider the benefits of implementing novel mechanisms designed to elicit a state of permanent sterility (including redox cycling to generate oxid...
Moinardeau C, Mesléard F, Dutoit T.Extensive grazing by domestic herbivores is a widespread management practice used since the 80s in many European agro-ecosystems such as semi-natural grasslands to maintain open habitats and to enhance biodiversity. Such grazing systems have principally been tested in cultural ecosystems of high nature value threatened by grazing abandonment. However, there have been few case studies of grazing management in very anthropized ecosystems, such as the new ecosystems created by urban or industrial conversions. In Southern France, the Rhône channeling for navigation and electricity production gene...
Huang H, Zhang B, Chu H, Zhang D, Li K.We investigated infections with Gasterophilus spp. in three equids within the Kalamaili Nature Reserve (northern China). We conducted necropsies on 6 Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) and 6 Mongolian wild asses (Equus hemionus) and administered ivermectin to 10 overwintering domestic horses to expel parasites during winter periods. All 22 equids studied (100%) were infested with Gasterophilus spp. and a total of 17,225 larvae were collected. These included six species: G. haemorrhoidalis, G. inermis, G. intestinalis, G. nasalis, G. nigricornis, and G. pecorum. The mean intensity of...
Shepard JJ, Andreadis TG, Thomas MC, Molaei G.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a highly pathogenic mosquito-borne arbovirus, with active transmission foci in freshwater hardwood swamps in eastern North America, where enzootic transmission is maintained between the ornithophilic mosquito, Culiseta melanura, and wild passerine birds. The role of other locally abundant mosquito species in virus transmission and their associations with vertebrate hosts as sources of blood meals within these foci are largely unknown but are of importance in clarifying the dynamics of enzootic and epidemic/epizootic transmission. Blood-engorged mosqu...
Górecka-Bruzda A, Fureix C, Ouvrard A, Bourjade M, Hausberger M.Yawning is rare in herbivores which therefore may be an interesting group to disentangle the potential function(s) of yawning behaviour. Horses provide the opportunity to compare not only animals living in different conditions but also wild versus domestic species. Here, we tested three hypotheses by observing both domestic and Przewalski horses living in semi-natural conditions: (i) that domestic horses may show an elevated rate of yawning as a result of the domestication process (or as a result of life conditions), (ii) that individuals experiencing a higher level of social stress would yawn...
Koljonen V, Söderlund T, Mäkisalo H, Gissler M.Contacts between humans and animals inevitably involve encounters possibly resulting in the human being injured. During the period of 2000 to 2014 almost 90 people died in this kind of conflict in Finland. Of these deaths, one third were associated with horses. In addition, over the same period 85 people died in traffic accidents in which an animal was hit by a car. Accidents requiring hospitalization occurred for approx. 8 000 people.
Martin GA, Yanez-Arenas C, Roberts BJ, Chen C, Plowright RK, Webb RJ, Skerratt LF.Hendra virus is a paramyxovirus of Australian flying fox bats. It was first detected in August 1994, after the death of 20 horses and one human. Since then it has occurred regularly within a portion of the geographical distribution of all Australian flying fox (fruit bat) species. There is, however, little understanding about which species are most likely responsible for spillover, or why spillover does not occur in other areas occupied by reservoir and spillover hosts. Using ecological niche models of the four flying fox species we were able to identify which species are most likely linked to...
Catania KC.In March 1800, Alexander von Humboldt observed the extraordinary spectacle of native fisherman collecting electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) by "fishing with horses" [von Humboldt A (1807) Ann Phys 25:34-43]. The strategy was to herd horses into a pool containing electric eels, provoking the eels to attack by pressing themselves against the horses while discharging. Once the eels were exhausted, they could be safely collected. This legendary tale of South American adventures helped propel Humboldt to fame and has been recounted and illustrated in many publications, but subsequent investi...
Gerritsmann H, Stalder GL, Kaczensky P, Buuveibaatar B, Payne J, Boldbaatar S, Walzer C.Research and conservation of wide-ranging wild equids in most cases necessitate capture and handling of individuals. For free-roaming Mongolian khulan ( Equus hemionus hemionus), also known as the khulan, capture involves a strenuous, high-speed chase, and physiologic responses have yet to be elucidated. We analyzed sequential arterial blood gas (ABG) samples as a proxy for respiratory and metabolic status of khulan during capture-related anesthesia. We recorded precise chase and induction times and monitored vital parameters and ABG from free-ranging khulan during anesthesia performed for GPS...
Abad-Cobo A, Llorente F, Barbero MDC, Cruz-López F, Forés P, Jiménez-Clavero MÁ.West Nile fever/encephalitis (WNF) is an infectious disease affecting horses, birds and humans, with a cycle involving birds as natural reservoirs and mosquitoes as transmission vectors. It is a notifiable disease, re-emerging in Europe. In Spain, it first appeared in horses in the south (Andalusia) in 2010, where outbreaks occur every year since. However, in 2014, an outbreak was declared in horses in central Spain, approximately 200 km away from the closest foci in Andalusia. Before that, evidence of West Nile virus (WNV) circulation in central Spain had been obtained only from wildlife, bu...
Lubow BC, Ransom JI.Reliably estimating wildlife abundance is fundamental to effective management. Aerial surveys are one of the only spatially robust tools for estimating large mammal populations, but statistical sampling methods are required to address detection biases that affect accuracy and precision of the estimates. Although various methods for correcting aerial survey bias are employed on large mammal species around the world, these have rarely been rigorously validated. Several populations of feral horses (Equus caballus) in the western United States have been intensively studied, resulting in identifica...
Field HE.Hendra virus causes acute and highly fatal infection in horses and humans. Pteropid bats (flying-foxes) are the natural host of the virus, with age and species being risk factors for infection. Urine is the primary route of excretion in flying-foxes, with viral RNA more frequently detected in Pteropus alecto and P. conspicillatus than other species. Infection prevalence in flying-foxes can vary between and within years, with a winter peak of excretion occurring in some regions. Vertical transmission and recrudescing infection has been reported in flying-foxes, but horizontal transmission is ev...
Oliver J, Lukacik G, Kramer LD, Backenson PB, Sherwood JA, Howard JJ.In New York State (NYS), Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) was first reported in a human in 1971, in horses in 1970, and in pheasants in 1952. Methods: Following work for the interval from 1970 to 1991, we identified cases in vertebrates from 1992 to 2012, through a passive surveillance system involving veterinarians in clinical practice, county health departments, and the Departments of Agriculture and Markets, Environmental Conservation, and Health, of the State of New York. Results: During an 11-year hiatus, from 1992 to 2002, no case in any vertebrate was observed. In a re-emergence, from ...
Ganjali M, Keighobadi M.Myiasis is the infection caused by a variety of dipterous (fly) larvae in vertebrate's tissue (man and domestic or wild animals). Species of Gasterophilus are obligate parasite of horses, donkeys, zebras, elephants and rhinoceroses. There are records worldwide, but mostly, in tropical and subtropical regions. This case report describes a type of gastric myiasis caused by G. intestinalis in an old lion in a zoo in Sistan, southeast Iran. Myiasis in lions is rarely reported and this is the first report of gastric myiasis in lion.
Liu SH, Li K, Hu DF.A survey was conducted on the detection of the larval Gasterophilus species in 90 equines via necropsy or after administering oral ivermectin in Xinjian, China, from 2008 to 2013. All 90 (100%) equines were infested by larval Gasterophilus, and 3723second instar larvae (L2) and 63,778 third instar larvae (L3) were collected from faecal samples and the digestive tract, a ratio of L2:L3=1:17. Over 84.45% of the animals contained ≤1500 larvae and 7.78% had >2000 larvae. The highest totals of L2 and L 3 larvae in any one animal were 1208 in Mongolian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionus), 2491 in P...
Silva RO, Rupnik M, Diniz AN, Vilela EG, Lobato FC.Clostridium difficile is an emerging enteropathogen responsible for pseudomembranous colitis in humans and diarrhoea in several domestic and wild animal species. Despite its known importance, there are few studies about C. difficile polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ribotypes in Brazil and the actual knowledge is restricted to studies on human isolates. The aim of the study was therefore to compare C. difficile ribotypes isolated from humans and animals in Brazil. Seventy-six C. difficile strains isolated from humans (n = 25), dogs (n = 23), piglets (n = 12), foals (n = 7), calves (n = 7), one c...
Liu SH, Hu DF, Li K.Oviposition site selection is an important aspect of the behavioural ecology of insects. A comparison of the habitats used by a species enhances our understanding of their adaptation to altered environments. We collected data on the oviposition behaviours of Gasterophilus pecorum (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) in its habitat in Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR), Xinjiang, China between March and October 2014. We found 91 quadrats were used by G. pecorum for oviposition. Examining 13 ecological factors using the t-test, chi-square test, and principal component analysis showed that G. pecorum's oviposi...
Petinaki E, Spiliopoulou I.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains one of the most virulent human pathogens and has also recently been recognized as such in the veterinary settings. Companion animals, including dogs, cats, horses, small exotic animals, wildlife animals, and livestock, may constitute a reservoir for MRSA transmission to humans and vice versa. The evolution, emergence, and risk factors for MRSA transmission among colonized or infected animals are reviewed in the present paper, and infection control practices are discussed.
Downs JA, Hyzer G, Marion E, Smith ZJ, Kelen PV, Unnasch TR.Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is often fatal to humans and horses. Some species including white-tailed deer and passerine birds can survive infection with the EEE virus (EEEV) and develop antibodies that can be detected using laboratory techniques. In this way, collected serum samples from free ranging white-tailed deer can be used to monitor the presence of the virus in ecosystems. This study developed and tested a risk index model designed to predict EEEV activity in white-tailed deer in a three-county area of Michigan. The model evaluates EEEV risk...
Krueger K, Schneider G, Flauger B, Heinze J.One mechanism to resolve conflict among group members is third party intervention, for which several functions, such as kin protection, alliance formation, and the promotion of group cohesion have been proposed. Still, empirical research on the function of intervention behaviour is rare. We studied 40 cases of intervention behaviour in a field study on 13 semi-wild bachelor horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) in (a) standard social situations, and (b) when new horses joined the group (i.e. introductions). Only interventions in agonistic encounters were analysed. Eight of 13 animals directed inter...
Cappai MG, Pudda F, Wolf P, Accioni F, Boatto G, Pinna W.Wildlife protection and management are important priorities for landscape identity and biodiversity preservation. Feeding practices of fauna confined in facilities during temporary captivity are fundamental to support animal health and natural behavior. Appropriate provision of feedstuffs appears to be necessary to support the best practices in respect of animal species-specific natural diet. This investigation explored the variation of the metabolic profile by means of selected metabolite and respective circulating levels in a group feral Giara horses undergoing the change of the diet, moving...
Tizard IR, Harmeson J, Lai CH.The prevalence of seropositive reactions to Toxoplasma gondii was studied in farm animals, companion animals, wild rodents and birds. Of the animals tested, 17% of cattle, 65% of sheep, 45% of pigs, 9% of horses, 33% of dogs and 20% of cats were seropositive by the Sabin-Feldman dye test. In addition 11% of mice (Mus musculus), 5% of deer mice (Peromyscus), 3% of rats (Rattus norvegicus) and less than 2% of sparrows (Passer domestcus) were seropositive. All samples from short-tailed field mice (Microtus pennsylvanicus), squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), chipmunks (Tamias striatus), meadow jump...
Guzmán C, Calderón A, Oviedo T, Mattar S, Castañeda J, Rodriguez V, Moraes Figueiredo LT.Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is an alphavirus that causes encephalitis with a high impact on public health in Latin America. However, only in Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico have found antibodies in VEEV in bats, using immunohistochemistry, the sensitivity and specificity are improved; thus, it is better for demonstrating natural infection in bats as potential hosts. This study aimed to determine the presence of VEEV in tissues of frugivorous bats. Methods: A prospective descriptive cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sampling was carried out in 12 localiti...
Seo MG, Kwon OD, Kwak D.Lyme borreliosis is one of the most prevalent tick-borne infectious zoonotic diseases caused by spirochetes of the sensu lato group. The present study assessed the risk factors and prevalence of Lyme borreliosis in ticks parasitizing domestic and wild animals. A total of 589 ticks (329 tick pools) collected from animals were identified as , (85.7%), (10.0%), and (4.3%) using morphological and molecular methods in South Korea. In this study, the 5S-23S gene sequences of (6/329, 1.8%) were detected in ticks taken from mammals, including ticks from horses (2/147 pools, 1.4%), wild boar (1/19 ...
Bolin CA, Zuerner RL.Isolates (n = 147) of Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona type kennewicki from cattle, swine, horses, and wildlife were analyzed by DNA restriction endonuclease analysis. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms were identified in DNA digested with HpaII, and the restriction fragment length polymorphisms were correlated with the host animal source of the isolates. These results will be useful in understanding the epidemiology of serovar pomona infections in livestock.
Keiper RR.Socially feral horses live in stable social groups characterized by one adult male, a number of adult females, and their offspring up to 2 years of age. Extra males either live by themselves or with other males in bachelor groups. The bands occupy nondefended home ranges that often overlap. Many abnormal behaviors seen in domestic horses occur because some aspect of their normal social behavior cannot be carried out in captivity.
Kaynarcalidan O, Oğuzoğlu TÇ.Papillomaviruses are oncogenic DNA viruses and induce hyperplastic benign lesions of both cutaneous and mucosal tissues in their various hosts, including many domestic and wild animals as well as humans. There are some Papillomavirus genotypes that can infect hosts different from their own, such as BPV 1 and BPV 2 originated from cattle, which can also infect horses and are responsible for fibroblastic tumours in horses. This review article summarizes the origin and evolution of papillomaviruses as an etiological agent in the historical process. The main focus in this review is the evaluation ...
Sevá Ada P, Funada MR, Souza Sde O, Nava A, Richtzenhain LJ, Soares RM.The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium in domestic animals in rural properties surrounding rain forest fragments within the municipality of Teodoro Sampaio, southeastern Brazil. Conventional sucrose flotation method followed by molecular characterization of the parasites by sequencing PCR products amplified from SSU rRNA gene were used. Stool samples were collected from domestic animals raised as pets and livestock in all rural properties surrounding three forest fragments. Samples from cattle (197), equine (63), pigs (25), sheep (11), and dogs (28) were collecte...
Richard E, Simpson SE, Medill SA, McLoughlin PD.Individual-based study of natural populations allows for accurate and precise estimation of fitness components and the extent to which they might vary with ecological conditions. By tracking the fates of all 701 horses known to have lived on Sable Island, Canada, from 2009 to 2013 (where there is no predation, human interference, or interspecific competition for food), we present a detailed analysis of structured population dynamics with focus on interacting effects of intraspecific competition and weather on reproduction and survival. Annual survival of adult females (0.866 ± 0.107 [[Formu...
Janczarek I, Stachurska A, Kędzierski W, Wiśniewska A, Ryżak M, Kozioł A.Predatory attacks on horses can become a problem in some parts of the world, particularly when considering the recovering gray wolf populations. The issue studied was whether horses transformed by humans and placed in stable-pasture environments had retained their natural abilities to respond to predation risk. The objective of the study was to determine the changes in cardiac activity, cortisol concentrations, and behavior of horses in response to the vocalizations of two predators: the gray wolf (Canis lupus), which the horses of the breed studied had coevolved with but not been exposed to r...
Geigl EM, Grange T.The Equidae have a long evolutionary history that has interested palaeontologists for a long time. Their morphology-based taxonomy, however, is a matter of controversy. Since most equid species are now extinct, the phylogenetic tree based on genetic data can be established only imperfectly via deduction of present day genomes and little is known about the past genetic diversity of these species. Recent studies of ancient DNA preserved in fossil bones have led to a simplification of the phylogenetic tree and the classification system. The situation is still particularly unclear for the wild ass...
Krebs JW, Smith JS, Rupprecht CE, Childs JE.During 1998, 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico reported 7,961 cases of rabies in nonhuman animals and 1 case in a human being to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a decrease of 6.5% from 8,509 cases in nonhuman animals and 4 cases in human beings reported in 1997. More than 92% (7,358 cases) were in wild animals, whereas > 7.5% (603 cases) were in domestic species (compared with 93% in wild animals and 7% in domestic species in 1997). Decreases were evident in all of the major contributing species groups, with the exception of skunks and bats. The relative cont...
Ransom JI, Hobbs NT, Bruemmer J.Abiotic inputs such as photoperiod and temperature can regulate reproductive cyclicity in many species. When humans perturb this process by intervening in reproductive cycles, the ecological consequences may be profound. Trophic mismatches between birth pulse and resources in wildlife species may cascade toward decreased survival and threaten the viability of small populations. We followed feral horses (Equus caballus) in three populations for a longitudinal study of the transient immunocontraceptive porcine zona pellucida (PZP), and found that repeated vaccinations extended the duration of in...
Atuman YJ, Kudi CA, Abdu PA, Okubanjo OO, Wungak Y, Ularamu HG, Abubakar A.Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne zoonotic disease responsible for severe outbreaks in livestock and humans with concomitant economic losses in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study, therefore, investigated the seroprevalence of the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) among wild and domestic animals. Blood samples were collected between 2013 and 2015 from 106 wild animals, 300 cattle (), and 200 horses (), respectively, in Yankari Game Reserve (YGR) and Sumu Wildlife Park (SWP) in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Harvested sera from blood were evaluated for the presence of anti-RVFV IgM...
Zhou M, Elmore JA, Samiappan S, Evans KO, Pfeiffer MB, Blackwell BF, Iglay RB.In recent years, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been used widely to monitor animals because of their customizability, ease of operating, ability to access difficult to navigate places, and potential to minimize disturbance to animals. Automatic identification and classification of animals through images acquired using a sUAS may solve critical problems such as monitoring large areas with high vehicle traffic for animals to prevent collisions, such as animal-aircraft collisions on airports. In this research we demonstrate automated identification of four animal species using deep l...
Topp AK, Springer A, Mischke R, Rieder J, Feige K, Ganter M, Nagel-Kohl U, Nordhoff M, Boelke M, Becker S, Pachnicke S, Schunack B, Dobler G, Strube C.Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a tick-transmitted flavivirus, which can infect humans and animals, sometimes even with a fatal outcome. Since many decades, TBEV is endemic in southern Germany, while only sporadic occurrence has been noted in northern parts of the country so far. Nevertheless, autochthonous human clinical cases are increasing in the federal state of Lower Saxony in north-western Germany, and several natural foci of TBEV transmission have recently been detected in this federal state. In order to shed more light on the current distribution of TBEV in Lower Saxony, the pr...
Tulsiani SM, Graham GC, Moore PR, Jansen CC, Van Den Hurk AF, Moore FA, Simmons RJ, Craig SB.Hendra virus (HeV) was first isolated in 1994, from a disease outbreak involving at least 21 horses and two humans in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra, Australia. The affected horses and humans all developed a severe but unidentified respiratory disease that resulted in the deaths of one of the human cases and the deaths or putting down of 14 of the horses. The virus, isolated by culture from a horse and the kidney of the fatal human case, was initially characterised as a new member of the genus Morbillivirus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Comparative sequence analysis of part of the matrix prote...
Burnik Šturm M, Ganbaatar O, Voigt CC, Kaczensky P.1. Competition among sympatric wild herbivores is reduced by different physiological, morphological, and behavioral traits resulting in different dietary niches. Wild equids are a rather uniform group of large herbivores which have dramatically declined in numbers and range. Correlative evidence suggests that pasture competition with livestock is one of the key factors for this decline, and the situation may be aggravated in areas where different equid species overlap. 2. The Dzungarian Gobi is currently the only place where two wild equid species coexist and share the range with the domestica...
Ratzlaff FR, Osmari V, da Silva D, de Paula Vasconcellos JS, Pötter L, Fernandes FD, de Mello Filho JA, de Avila Botton S, Vogel FSF, Sangioni LA.Leishmaniasis is a zoonosis caused by protozoan species of the genus Leishmania. It generates different clinical manifestations in humans and animals, and it infects multiple hosts. Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sandfly vectors. The main objective of this systematic review was to identify the host, or reservoir animal species, of Leishmania spp., with the exception of domestic dogs, that were recorded in Brazil. This review included identification of diagnostic methods, and the species of protozoan circulating in the country. For this purpose, a literature search was conducted across...
de Oliveira Filho EF, Carneiro IO, Ribas JRL, Fischer C, Marklewitz M, Junglen S, Netto EM, Franke CR, Drexler JF.An orthobunyavirus termed Fort Sherman virus (FSV) was isolated in 1985 from a febrile US soldier in Panama, yet potential animal reservoirs remained unknown. We investigated sera from 192 clinically healthy peri-domestic animals sampled in northeastern Brazil during 2014-2018 by broadly reactive RT-PCR for orthobunyavirus RNA, including 50 cattle, 57 sheep, 35 goats and 50 horses. One horse sampled in 2018 was positive (0.5%; 95% CI, 0.01-3.2) at 6.2 × 103 viral RNA copies/mL. Genomic comparisons following virus isolation in Vero cells and deep sequencing revealed high identity of translat...
Marshall ID, Brown BK, Keith K, Gard GP, Thibos E.There was extensive and exuberant breeding of waterbirds before and during an epidemic of arboviral encephalitis in the Murray Valley of south eastern Australia in 1974. As estimated by haemagglutination inhibition tests on 432 bird sera collected between 4th and 13th February, 1974, infection with Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Kunjin virus and possibly other flaviviruses was concentrated in species of the Order Ciconiiformes (55% positive) and Pelecaniformes (41%), compared with only 5% in Anseriformes. Although Sindbis virus infections were also highest in these 2 Orders (56% and 46%, re...
Guo X, Izume S, Okada A, Ohya K, Kimura T, Fukushi H.A strain of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) was isolated from zebra. This strain, called "zebra-borne EHV-1", was also isolated from an onager and a gazelle in zoological gardens in U.S.A. The full genome sequences of the 3 strains were determined. They shared 99% identities with each other, while they shared 98% and 95% identities with the horse derived EHV-1 and equine herpesvirus type 9, respectively. Sequence data indicated that the EHV-1 isolated from a polar bear in Germany is one of the zebra-borne EHV-1 and not a recombinant virus. These results indicated that zebra-borne EHV-1 is a ...
Morel AP, Webster A, Zitelli LC, Umeno K, Souza UA, Prusch F, Anicet M, Marsicano G, Bandarra P, Trainini G, Stocker J, Giani D, Fortes FB, Goenaga S....West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne Flavivirus that can affect birds, horses, and humans, and is the only zoonotic Flavivirus that has been identified in six continents. In Brazil, until 2010, there was no evidence of WNV circulation. Recently, the virus was isolated from a horse with encephalitis, and the first human cases were registered in Brazil. Despite that, there is still no information on the enzootic cycle of this virus in birds or wildlife. This study aimed to investigate whether there is evidence of WNV circulation among wild birds from Southern Brazil. For this, we used free-...
Wong D, Kogan LR.One Health knowledge has been identified by the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium (NAVMEC) as a core competency for all graduating veterinarians. Many veterinary colleges, however, are still in the preliminary stages of exploring how best to incorporate One Health principles into their existing curricula. In February 2012, we conducted a survey among second to fourth-year Professional Veterinary Medicine (PVM) students at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to assess One Health needs and attitudes. Out of 407 students, 93 (2...
Barnard BJ, Bengis R, Keet D, Dekker EH.The viraemic period of African horsesickness is significantly longer in experimentally infected zebra than in horses. The virus could be isolated 40 d post-infection from blood and 48 d post-infection from spleen. The introduction of zebra into African horsesickness-free countries should therefore be considered carefully, and preferably be restricted to serologically negative zebra.
Hernández-Jover M, Roche S, Ward MP.Vector-borne diseases can have substantial impacts on human and animal health, including major epidemics. West Nile virus (WNV) is of particular international importance due to its recent emergence and impact in the Western Hemisphere. Despite the presence of a sub-type of WNV (Kunjin virus, KUN) in Australia, a potential ecological niche could be occupied by an exotic strain of WNV of the North American type. This study assesses the probability an exotic strain of WNV enters Australia via an infected mosquito in an aircraft from the United States (U.S.) landing at Sydney airport, the probabil...
Wan X, Zhang Z.Climate change and humans are proposed as the two key drivers of total extinction of many large mammals in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but disentangling their relative roles remains challenging owing to a lack of quantitative evaluation of human impact and climate-driven distribution changes on the extinctions of these large mammals in a continuous temporal-spatial dimension. Here, our analyses showed that temperature change had significant effects on mammoth (genus ), rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae), horse (Equidae) and deer (Cervidae). Rapid global warming was the predominant factor...
Bermúdez C S, Zaldívar Y, Domínguez A L, Hernández M, de Antinori MEB, Krawczak FS.Rickettsia amblyommatis is widely distributed in the Americas, and has been reported to infect different species of ticks within its distribution. In Panama, R. amblyommatis is the most common Rickettsia and its presence was molecularly detected in nine species of ticks and one flea species. This work described the isolation of R. amblyommatis in Vero cells by shell vial technique, from Amblyomma mixtum ticks collected from a captive tapir from Gamboa (Colon province), and a horse from El Valle de Antón (Cocle province). These represent the first isolations of R. amblyommatis in Panama.
Kirkpatrick JF, Turner JW, Liu IK, Fayrer-Hosken R, Rutberg AT.Non-lethal management methods are required for wild equids that are protected by law and for deer inhabiting areas where lethal controls are not legal or safe. Single or multiple inoculations of porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccine have been delivered to wild horses and deer by means of darts. Contraceptive efficacy in horses after two inoculations ranged from 90% to 100%, and after a single inoculation ranged from 19% to 28%. Mares given a controlled-release form of the vaccine had foaling rates ranging from 7% to 20%. No detectable changes in social organization or behaviours among treated h...
Leonardi M, Boschin F, Boscato P, Manica A.Predicting the effects of future global changes on species requires a better understanding of the ecological niche dynamics in response to climate; the large climatic fluctuations of the last 50,000 years can be used as a natural experiment to that aim. Here we test whether the realized niche of horse, aurochs, red deer, and wild boar changed between 47,000 and 7500 years ago using paleoecological modelling over an extensive archaeological database. We show that they all changed their niche, with species-specific responses to climate fluctuations. We also suggest that they survived the climati...
