Prairie Dog Pals

Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat

Endangered wildlife are getting dosed with rat poisons

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People who consider rodents to be pests often turn to an array of products, known as anticoagulant rodenticides, which are marketed to lethally “solve” the issue with poisoned bait. But researchers have been collecting evidence for years showing that it’s not just nuisance rats that can end up dead.

Some of the most recent studies, conducted in California, found that everything from Pacific fishers to bobcats to northern spotted owls often become victims of rodenticides. The list of potentially affected wildlife is long – basically anything that preys on a rodent could be at risk, because the poisons are so toxic they travel up the food chain, and in some cases, can remain in an animal’s body for years. It can even leapfrog in utero from one generation to the next.

 

 

Read more:  Poison

Thom Smith | NatureWatch: Proposed border wall will impact 93 endangered and threatened species

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A new study by the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., claims President Trump’s border wall threatens 93 endangered and threatened species, including jaguars, ocelots, Mexican gray wolves and cactus ferruginous pygmy owls.

This Aug. 12, 2017, photo shows posters in support of Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, home to 400-plus species of birds and several endangered wildcats, at a rally in Mission, Texas. The U.S. government carefully designed a path of least resistance to building a border wall in Texas, picking the wildlife refuge and other places it already owns or controls to quickly begin construction. All it needed was Congress to approve the money. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Read more:  Wall

Evaluation of Five Pulicides to Suppress Fleas on Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs: Encouraging Long-Term Results with Systemic 0.005% Fipronil.

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1. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2019 Jan 8. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2018.2339. [Epub ahead of print]

Eads DA 1, Biggins DE 2, Bowser J 2, Broerman K 2, Livieri TM 3, Childers E 4, Dobesh P 5, Griebel RL 5.

Author information:
1. 1 Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
2. 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, Colorado.
3. 3 Prairie Wildlife Research, Wellington, Colorado.
4. 4 National Park Service, Badlands National Park, Interior, South Dakota.
5. 5 U.S. Forest Service, Wall, South Dakota.

Abstract

Plague, a flea-borne disease, hampers efforts to restore populations of black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes), which occupy colonies of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) in North America. Plague is managed by infusing prairie dog burrows with DeltaDust® 0.05% deltamethrin, a pulicide that kills fleas. Experiments are needed to identify pulicides that can be used in rotation with DeltaDust for integrated plague management. In South Dakota, USA, we tested the efficacy of four pulicide dusts when applied at a rate of 8 g per burrow on colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus): Sevin® 5% carbaryl; Dusta-cide® 6% malathion; Alpine® 0.25% dinotefuran with 95% diatomaceous earth; and Tri-Die® 1% pyrethrum with 40% amorphous silica and 10% piperonyl butoxide. We also tested systemic 0.005% fipronil, which was distributed as ½ cup of laced grain per burrow. We sampled prairie dogs on 3294 occasions and detected 10,041 fleas. Sevin and Dusta-cide suppressed fleas but only for 1 month. Neither Alpine nor Tri-Die had any noticeable, consistent effect on fleas. Fipronil suppressed fleas by 97-100% for 3 months. The residual effect of fipronil persisted for ∼12 months. Efficacy of fipronil seems comparable with DeltaDust, which exhibited a residual effect for ∼10 months in prior studies. Continued research is needed to optimize fipronil treatments for plague management on prairie dog colonies.
PMID: 30620249

Investigation of the utility of feces and hair as non-invasive measures of glucocorticoids in wild black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus).

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1. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2019 Feb 5. pii: S0016-6480(18)30251-X. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.02.003. [Epub ahead of print]

Crill C 1, Janz DM 2, Kusch JM 3, Santymire RM 4, Heyer GP 3, Shury TK 5, Lane JE 3.

Author information:
1. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Electronic address: colleen.crill@gmail.com.
2. Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
3. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
4. Davee Center for Epidemiology and Endocrinology, Lincoln Park Zoo, United States.
5. Parks Canada Agency, Canada.

Abstract

Non-invasive measures of glucocorticoid (GC) hormones and their metabolites, particularly in feces and hair, are gaining popularity as wildlife management tools, but species-specific validations of these tools remain rare. We report the results of a validation on black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), a highly social engineer of the grasslands ecosystem that has experienced recent population declines. We captured adult female prairie dogs and brought them into temporary captivity to conduct an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation test, assessing the relationship between plasma GC and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) levels following a single injection of a low (4 IU/kg) or high dose (12 IU/kg) of ACTH, compared to a single injection of saline. We also gave repeated injections of ACTH to adult females to assess whether this would result in an increase of hair cortisol concentrations, compared with control individuals repeatedly injected with saline. A single injection of ACTH at either low or high dose peaked plasma cortisol levels after 30 min, and thereafter the cortisol levels declined until 120 min, where they returned to pre-treatment levels comparable to those of the saline injected group. Despite the significant elevation of plasma cortisol in the treatment groups following ACTH injection, the elevation of FGM levels in the treatment groups were not significantly different from those in the control group over the following 12 hours. Repeated injection of a high dose of ACTH failed to increase hair cortisol concentration in treatment animals. Instead, hair cortisol levels remained comparable to the pre-treatment mean, despite an increase in post-treatment hair cortisol levels seen in the saline-injected group. The magnitude of increase in the saline control group was comparable to natural seasonal variation seen in unmanipulated individuals. These results highlight that while measurement of GCs and their metabolites in feces and hair are potentially valuable conservation tools, further validation work is required before these matrices can be to real-world conservation applications.

Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.
PMID: 30735671

An improved method for detecting torpor entrance and arousal in a mammalian hibernator using heart rate data.

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Item 1 of 1    ( Display the citation in PubMed)

 

1. J Exp Biol. 2018 Feb 22;221(Pt 4). pii: jeb174508. doi: 10.1242/jeb.174508.

MacCannell ADV 1, Jackson EC 2, Mathers KE 3, Staples JF 3.

Author information:
1. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London ON, N6A5B8, Canada amaccann@uwo.ca.
2. Department of Computer Science, University of Western Ontario, London ON, N6A5B7, Canada.
3. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London ON, N6A5B8, Canada.

Abstract

We used electrocardiogram (ECG) telemeters to measure the heart rate of hibernating Ictidomys tridecemlineatus (thirteen-lined ground squirrel). An increase in heart rate from 2.2 to 5 beats min-1 accurately identified arousal from torpor before any change in body temperature was detected. Variability in raw heart rate data was significantly reduced by a forward-backward Butterworth low-pass filter, allowing for discrete differential analysis. A decrease in filtered heart rate to 70% of maximum values in interbout euthermia (from approximately 312 to 235 beats min-1) accurately detected entrance into torpor bouts. At this point, body temperature had fallen from 36.1°C to only 34.7°C, much higher than the 30°C typically used to identify entrance. Using these heart rate criteria allowed advanced detection of entrance and arousal (detected 51.9 and 76 min earlier, respectively), compared with traditional body temperature criteria. This method will improve our ability to detect biochemical and molecular markers underlying these transition periods, during which many physiological changes occur.

© 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Free Article
PMID: 29361606 [Indexed for MEDLINE]