Helminth Parasites of the Gastrointestinal Tracts and Lungs

Gastrointestinal tracts and lungs of 140 moose (Alces alces) and 186 wapiti (Cervus elaphus) from Cypress Hills, Alberta, were examined for helminth parasites. Moose were infected with nine species of parasites, including six nematodes, two cestodes, and one trematode. Wapiti were infected with 10 species, including eight nematodes and two cestodes. Six of the total of 13 species found co-occurred in both wapiti and moose. An anoplocephalid tapeworm, Thysanosoma actinioides, was the most prevalent parasite in both hosts, occurring in 70% of moose and 56% of wapiti. Other parasites that co-occurred included Trichuris sp., Dictyocaulus viviparus, Nematodirella alcidis, Orthostrongylus macrotis, and Taenia hydatigena. The Cypress Hills area is a plateau in the southeastern corner of Alberta that crosses the Saskatchewan border (49°30/N, 110°(yW) and comprises an area of approximately 531,000 ha. The hills range in elevation from 1,466 m at their western end in Alberta to 1,067 m in Saskatchewan. The area represents an island habitat of quaking aspen (Populns tremuloides), balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), lodgepole pine (Pinus contortd), and white spruce (Picea glaucd) forests surrounded by and interdigitated with prairie grassland (for details see Newsome and Dix, 1968). Cervids, represented by moose (Alces alces), wapiti (Cervus elaphus), whitetailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and mule deer (O. hemionus), are common. Several studies have been conducted on parasites of moose and wapiti in Alberta (Stelfox, 1962; Flook and Stenton, 1969; Samuel, 1972a, b), but these have either presented information on a particular parasite(s) or have provided only anecdotal, mainly qualitative, data. Samuel et al. (1976) presented quantitative parasite data on moose in Alberta, including 24 samples from Cypress Hills. During a herd reduction program in 1978, the gastrointestinal tracts and lungs of 140 moose and 186 wapiti were collected and later examined for helminth parasites. This permitted us to (1) provide basic quantitative data on parasites of sympatric populations of moose and wapiti; (2) compare the parasite faunas of hosts from this unique habitat with those reported from other parts of Alberta and North America; and (3) compare and contrast the findings of this study with those of Samuel et al. (1976) for moose that had been collected in 1970 from the Cypress Hills, in order to discern any major changes that might have occurred over a span of 8 yr. Materials and Methods Gastrointestinal tracts and lungs of hunter-killed moose and wapiti were collected in October, November, and December 1978. Samples were frozen on the day of collection for examination later. The contents of lungs, abomasa, the anterior 1.5 m of small intestine (Samuel et al., 1976), and intestinal material adhering to the cecal wall were flushed with tap water into pails. The material