Due to concerns that high pathogenicity avian influenza would enter into the United States, an interagency strategic plan was developed to conduct surveillance in wild birds in order to address one of the possible pathways of entry. The USDA and state wildlife agencies participated in this effort by collecting samples from 145,055 wild birds from April 2006 through March 2008 in all 50 states. ...

Testosterone profiles and semen characteristics were determined using yearling and adult captive wild-strain Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) drakes. Wild-strain Mallard hens were artificially inseminated by modifying a technique developed for domesticated poultry. In both adult and yearling drakes, there was a change in the concentration of circulating plasma testosterone during the reproductive s...

As part of ongoing studies on the blood profiles of the Nigerian avian species, haematological and plasma biochemical parameters were determined in the Nigerian laughing dove (Streptopelia senegalensis). There were no significant sex differences in all the parameters studied. However, when the values that were observed in the Nigerian laughing dove were compared with those of the Nigerian duck ...

The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of mercury (Hg) in liver (L), kidney (K), breast muscle [BM (musculus pectoralis major)], breast feathers (BF), and stomach contents (SC) of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos L. 1758). Among the edible parts of mallard, the greatest concentrations of Hg were observed in K and L, although they did not exceed 1.5 mg/kg dry weight (dw). Average co...

Wild dabbling ducks (genus Anas) are the main reservoir for influenza A virus (IAV) in the Northern Hemisphere. Current understanding of disease dynamics and epidemiology in this virus-host system has primarily been based on population-level surveillance studies and infection experiments conducted in laboratory settings. Using a combined experimental-natural approach with wild-strain captive ma...

Morphological characteristics of the acanthocephalan Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782), which was collected from duck Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus in Czech Republic, are described. The mitochondrial (mt) genome P. sequenced, with a total length 14,149 bp, comprising 36 genes including 12 protein coding (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) and two ribosomal (rrnL rrnS). This is similar to mt genomes ot...