AbstrAct California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) mortality attributed to the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) produced by the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia has occurred repeatedly along the United States’ (US) west coast since the late 1990s. The purpose of this study was to provide a comparison of DA concentrations for several method platforms in the analysis of sea lion body fluids and to validate ...

Hexavalent chromium is an environmental contaminant. Within the environment, marine waters are a common site for hexavalent chromium deposition. We have recently reported significantly high levels of chromium in skin tissue from North Atlantic right whales. These findings demonstrate that marine species are being exposed to chromium. It is possible that such exposures may be playing a role in p...

Commercial and subsistence fisheries pressure is increasing in the Gulf of California, Mexico. One consequence often associated with high levels of fishing pressure is an increase in bycatch of marine mammals and birds. Fisheries bycatch has contributed to declines in several pinniped species and may be affecting the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) population in the Gulf of Califor...

It is argued that trophy hunting of large, charismatic mammal species can have considerable conservation benefits but only if undertaken sustainably. Social-ecological theory suggests such sustainability only results from developing governance systems that balance financial and biological requirements. Here we use lion (Panthera leo) trophy hunting data from Tanzania to investigate how resource...

Analysis of DNA sequence diversity at the 12S to 16S mitochondrial genes of 165 African lions (Panthera leo) from five main areas in Zambia has uncovered haplotypes which link Southern Africa with East Africa. Phylogenetic analysis suggests Zambia may serve as a bridge connecting the lion populations in southern Africa to eastern Africa, supporting earlier hypotheses that eastern-southern Afric...

Three experiments examined the effects of unconsciously presented picture primes on semantic categorization and naming responses to both word and picture targets. Picture naming and word categorization responses to targets were faster and more accurate when the picture primes belonged to the same semantic category as the targets, so called priming effect. No priming was found when subjects perf...

A pregnant sea lion stranded in the State of Washington was found to have placentitis caused by a unique strain of Coxiella burnetii. This is the first description of coxiellosis in a sea lion and suggests that exposure to sea lions may be a risk factor for contracting Q fever.

Campylobacter insulaenigrae have been isolated from different pinnipeds but not from South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens).The aim of this work is to report the first isolation of C. insulaenigrae from South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens).The isolate, identified by its phenotypic and molecular characteristics, allow recognizing O. flavescens as a new host for C. insulaenigrae.

The lion comes daily to the library and is beloved by the patrons and by the head librarian, Miss Merriweather. The library has many rules, but only one of them is of particular importance to the lion: no roaring allowed. The penalty for violation, as the lion well knows, is nothing less than excommunication. When Miss Merriweather falls and breaks her arm while reaching to a high shelf, the li...