CYSTOCENTESIS AND URINALYSIS IN ZOOMEDICINE: AN UNDERESTIMATED TOOL FOR LARGE FELID STANDARD HEALTH CHECKS.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a prevalent disease among felids; yet its origin is still poorly understood, and the disease often remains asymptomatic for years, underscoring the need for early diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of urinalysis in accurately staging CKD, particularly as routine health checks in large felids often overlook its significance. In this research, ultrasound-guided cystocentesis (UGC) was performed on 50 captive nondomestic felids during routine veterinary health checks under general anesthesia.

Spatio-temporal metapopulation trends: The coconut crabs of Zanzibar.

Species experience a variety of environmental and anthropogenic conditions across their ranges leading to spatial variation in population dynamics. Understanding population dynamics under different conditions is important but it is challenging to allocate limited effort to spatial and temporal subpopulation monitoring. Using GLMMs, we analyze survey data of a metapopulation of coconut crabs spanning 7 years and 15 sites in and near the Pemba archipelago, Zanzibar, to estimate trends in population size (based on catch per unit effort), weight and sex ratio at the meta- and subpopulation level and investigate anthropogenic drivers of these trends.

Impact of Dietary Isoflavones in Standard Chow on Reproductive Development in Juvenile and Adult Female Mice with Different Metabolic Phenotypes.

Two factors influencing female reproduction have been repeatedly studied in different animal species and humans, namely, 1. secondary plant compounds, especially phytoestrogens (mainly isoflavones (IFs)), and 2. the physical constitution/metabolic phenotype (e.

Network analysis to reveal the most commonly detected compounds in predator-prey pairs in freshwater and marine mammals and fish in Europe.

Marine and freshwater mammalian predators and fish samples, retrieved from environmental specimen banks (ESBs), natural history museum (NHMs) and other scientific collections, were analysed by LIFE APEX partners for a wide range of legacy and emerging contaminants (2545 in total). Network analysis was used to visualize the chemical occurrence data and reveal the predominant chemical mixtures for the freshwater and marine environments. For this purpose, a web tool was created to explore these chemical mixtures in predator-prey pairs.

First record of a mixed species association between Hatinh langur () and red-shanked douc ().

In primates, mixed species associations are not common occurrences, and have been linked to both ecological and anthropogenic factors. We present camera-trapping records of a mixed association between two primates, the Hatinh langur () and red-shanked douc () and discuss possible hypotheses for this occurrence. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of such an association in the wild of these two threatened primates, and thus contributes to our limited ecological knowledge of the species.

Strain variation and anomalous climate synergistically influence cholera pandemics.

Background: Explanations for the genesis and propagation of cholera pandemics since 1817 have remained elusive. Evolutionary pathogen change is presumed to have been a dominant factor behind the 7th "El Tor" pandemic, but little is known to support this hypothesis for preceding pandemics. The role of anomalous climate in facilitating strain replacements has never been assessed.

The role of male quality in sequential mate choice: pregnancy replacement in small mammals?

Females mainly increase their reproductive success by improving the quality of their mates and need to be discriminative in their mate choices. Here, we investigate whether female mammals can trade up sire quality in sequential mate choice during already progressed pregnancies. A male-induced pregnancy termination (functional 'Bruce effect') could thus have an adaptive function in mate choice as a functional part of a pregnancy replacement.

Koala retrovirus and neoplasia: correlation and underlying mechanisms.

The koala retrovirus, KoRV, is one of the few models for understanding the health consequences of retroviral colonization of the germline. Such colonization events transition exogenous infectious retroviruses to Mendelian traits or endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). KoRV is currently in a transitional state from exogenous retrovirus to ERV, which in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) has been associated with strongly elevated levels of neoplasia.

Life-history stage influences immune investment and oxidative stress in response to environmental heterogeneity in Antarctic fur seals.

Immune defenses are crucial for survival but costly to develop and maintain. Increased immune investment is therefore hypothesized to trade-off with other life-history traits. Here, we examined innate and adaptive immune responses to environmental heterogeneity in wild Antarctic fur seals.

Clutter resilience via auditory stream segregation in echolocating greater mouse-eared bats.

Bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt in darkness, and must in that process segregate target echoes from unwanted clutter echoes. Bats may do this by approaching a target at steep angles relative to the plane of the background, utilizing their directional transmission and receiving systems to minimize clutter from background objects, but it remains unknown how bats negotiate clutter that cannot be spatially avoided. Here, we tested the hypothesis that when movement no longer offers spatial release, echolocating bats mitigate clutter by calling at lower source levels and longer call intervals to ease auditory streaming.

Aberrant microbiomes are associated with increased antibiotic resistance gene load in hybrid mice.

Antibiotic resistance is a priority public health problem resulting from eco-evolutionary dynamics within microbial communities and their interaction at a mammalian host interface or geographical scale. The links between mammalian host genetics, bacterial gut community, and antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) content must be better understood in natural populations inhabiting heterogeneous environments. Hybridization, the interbreeding of genetically divergent populations, influences different components of the gut microbial communities.

Host weight, seasonality and anthropogenic factors contribute to parasite community differences between urban and rural foxes.

Pathogens often occur at different prevalence along environmental gradients. This is of particular importance for gradients of anthropogenic impact such as rural-urban transitions presenting a changing interface between humans and wildlife. The assembly of parasite communities is affected by both the external environmental conditions and individual host characteristics.

Superfast Lombard response in free-flying, echolocating bats.

Acoustic cues are crucial to communication, navigation, and foraging in many animals, which hence face the problem of detecting and discriminating these cues in fluctuating noise levels from natural or anthropogenic sources. Such auditory dynamics are perhaps most extreme for echolocating bats that navigate and hunt prey on the wing in darkness by listening for weak echo returns from their powerful calls in complex, self-generated umwelts. Due to high absorption of ultrasound in air and fast flight speeds, bats operate with short prey detection ranges and dynamic sensory volumes, leading us to hypothesize that bats employ superfast vocal-motor adjustments to rapidly changing sensory scenes.

Effects of tag mass on the physiology and behaviour of common noctule bats.

Background: External tags, such as transmitters and loggers, are often used to study bat movements. However, physiological and behavioural effects on bats carrying tags have rarely been investigated, and recommendations on the maximum acceptable tag mass are rather based on rules of thumb than on rigorous scientific assessment.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive three-step assessment of the potential physiological and behavioural effects of tagging bats, using common noctules Nyctalus noctula as a model.