ABSTRACT
Three species of Old World vultures on the Asian peninsula are slowly recovering from the lethal consequences of diclofenac. At present the reason for species sensitivity to diclofenac is unknown. Furthermore, it has since been demonstrated that other Old World vultures like the Cape (Gyps coprotheres; CGV) and griffon (G. fulvus) vultures are also susceptible to diclofenac toxicity. Oddly, the New World Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and pied crow (Corvus albus) are not susceptible to diclofenac toxicity. As a result of the latter, we postulate an evolutionary link to toxicity. As a first step in understanding the susceptibility to diclofenac toxicity, we use the CGV as a model species for phylogenetic evaluations, by comparing the relatedness of various raptor species known to be susceptible, non-susceptible and suspected by their relationship to the Cape vulture mitogenome. This was achieved by next generation sequencing and assembly. The Cape vulture mitogenome had a genome size of 16,908 bp. The mitogenome phylogenetic analysis indicated a close evolutionary relationship between Old World vultures and other members of the Accipitridae as indicated by bootstrap value of 100% on the phylogenetic trees. Based on this, we postulate that the other species could also be sensitive to the toxic effects of diclofenac. This warrants further investigations.
ABSTRACT
Given a changing climate and large-scale human migration, understanding infectious diseases in wildlife and the factors that drive the spread of these diseases is becoming increasingly important. Owing to the close phylogenetic relationship between nonhuman primates and humans, primate parasites are of particular interest due to the potential for zoonotic disease transmission and for the study of social transmission within gregarious social groups. There is a wide range of social and environmental factors that influence the prevalence and transmission of pathogens, and identifying these, and their effects, is crucial to understanding the population-level consequences of climate change for animals that live in obligate social groups. Here we investigated gastrointestinal parasite species richness and used fecal egg counts to estimate worm intensities in 3 vervet monkey troops (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in a high latitude, semi-arid region of South Africa. This region is characterized by unpredictable rainfall and temperature extremes in summer and winter. We identified the gastrointestinal parasites in the population and explored potential demographic predictors, namely sex and troop membership, of parasite species richness and estimated intensity. Additionally, we assessed whether there was short-term intra-individual, inter-sample consistency in egg counts. Six species of gastrointestinal helminths were identified from 3 study troops, with egg counts ranging from 0 eggs/g to 1,100 eggs/g. Neither age nor sex predicted species richness or estimated intensity. This population had the highest prevalence of parasites with an insect vector compared with all other vervet populations studied, and distinctively high prevalences of Trichostrongylus sp. (71%) and Ternidens sp. (27%). Additionally, we found intra-individual egg count consistency in the short term (mean: 32 days).
