Serum samples collected from Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus; n=472), fallow deer (Dama dama; n=293) and European wild boar (Sus scrofa; n=174) in Asturias, Northern Spain, from 1999 to 2005 were examined for antibodies against a reference panel of 14 Leptospira spp. serovars. Positive antibody titres at a microscopic agglutination test cut-off of 1:80 were detected against serovars...

Radiocaesium contamination of wild boar (Sus scrofa) still achieves several ten thousands Bq kg fresh weight (FW) in some areas of Germany, concurrently exhibiting an extraordinary variability. In the Bavarian Forest, for instance, activity levels ranged between 82 and 40,000 Bq kg FW in 2004, with maximum and minimum values occurring at almost the same location within one week (Fielitz, 2005)....

Onchocercosis, caused by Onchocerca flexuosa, was observed in red deer (Cervus elaphus) from Spain for the first time. Adult specimens of P. flexuosa were found in nodules in subcutaneous tissues in 42 of 125 (33%) red deer between October 1994 and September 1995; intensity of infection +/- SD was 3.93 +/- 5.26 nodules per infected host. A clear seasonal pattern in the distribution of nodules w...

Cervical region lymph nodes collected by hunters from 43 wild hunter-harvested elk (Cervus elaphus) in Utah were submitted to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory during fall 2009. We evaluated these lymph nodes as specimens for identifi cation of bacterial pathogens using 16S rRNA genetic sequencing. Thirty-seven bacterial species were identifi ed; each was found in 2 to 30 individual elk...

Testosterone is an important hormone that has been shown to have sex-specific links to fitness in numerous species. Although testosterone concentrations vary substantially between individuals in a population, little is known about its heritable genetic basis or between-sex genetic correlations that determine its evolutionary potential. We found circulating neonatal testosterone levels to be bot...

Elk (Cervus elaphus) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem alter patterns of aggregation, habitat selection, vigilance, and foraging in the presence of wolves (Canis lupus). Antipredator behaviors like these can reduce predation risk but are also likely to carry costs. Data from five elk populations studied for 16 site years showed that progesterone concentrations (from 1489 fecal samples) decli...

The Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) is an emblematic game species in Spain. To generate a battery of polymorphic markers for multiplex polymerase chain reactions for the Spanish red deer, 45 loci isolated in different species of ungulates were tested. Of the primers tested, 27 amplified but only 21 were polymorphic. Eleven of these markers were subsequently optimized for multiplex ...

Elaeophorosis, caused by Elaeophora elaphi, was observed in red deer (Cervus elaphus) from Toledo Province (Spain) for the first time. Adult specimens of Elaeophora elaphi were found in the hepatic vessels of nine of 151 red deer between October 1994 and September 1995; intensity of infection was two to 18 nematodes per host. Adult nematodes were only found during the period from fall through e...