Most birds rely on flight for survival. Yet as an energetically taxing and physiologically integrative process, flight has many repercussions. Studying pigeons (Columba livia) and employing physiological and immunological indices that are relevant to ecologists working with wild birds, we determined what, if any, acute immune-like responses result from bouts of intense, non-migratory flight. We...

Biochemical and hematologic reference intervals have been reported for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus 1758), but low sample numbers and simple statistical analyses have constrained their diagnostic usefulness. During June 2007-May 2008, 101 loggerhead sea turtles in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, were captured by hand from boats; clinically assessed to determine health s...

Figure 1. Diatoms in cytologic samples of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in A, C, D, F, G, J–L, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in B, E, I, and a seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) in H. Wright–Giemsa stain.9100 objective (except F;920). (A) naviculoid benthic diatom; skin contamination of urine sediment; wet mount. (B) Nitzschia sp.; gastric fluid direct smear. (C) Navi...

Due to the constant evolution of industrial poultry production and the global emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics there has been an increasing interest in alternatives for the treatment of poultry salmonellosis, such as phage therapy and probiotics. The present study evaluated the effects of the oral administration of the bacteriophage P22 and of a probiotic, consisting of four Lac...

The hematology of wild and captive animals is essential for obtaining details about species and represents a simple method of diagnosing disease and determining prognosis. Few studies have described the morphology of chelonian blood cells, which are more common in sea and freshwater turtle species. Thus, in order to further our understanding and recognition of different chelonian cells types, t...

A method is presented to separate turkey heterophils from anticoagulated whole blood using two-step Ficoll-Hypaque discontinuous gradients and ammonium chloride lysis of contaminating erythrocytes. Heterophils can be isolated from multiple blood samples within 3 to 4 hours. Using this technique, 66.4 +/- 18.4% (mean +/- standard deviation) of blood heterophils were harvested. Final cell isolate...

Individual identification is a common method used in animal research. This study was designed to examine if commonly used identification systems (i.e., leg bands, wing bands, neck tags, and livestock markers) have different effects on hens' behavioral and physiological homeostasis. At 18 wk of age, hens were paired in all combinations of treatments and control (unmarked hens; n = 10) in a novel...

Administration of live Salmonella strains to day-old chicks provides protection against infection within hours by intestinal colonisation-inhibition. However, the extent to which the oral application of live Salmonella wild-type or vaccine strains may induce an early invasion-inhibition effect is unknown. Potentially protective pre-treatment strains of Salmonella Enteritidis and Infantis were e...