Stressful manipulation by humans has been previously shown to result in opening the pre-orbital gland of the newborn red deer. We hypothesized that exposure of red deer to stressful handling would result in opening the pre-orbital gland. Further, we tested the potential factors associated with pre-orbital opening, including season, sex, age and struggling behavior. Pre-orbital gland status was ...

Serum samples from 441 red deer (Cervus elaphus) and 161 other wild ruminant species, collected between 1993 and 2005 from six regions of Spain were tested for antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii by the modified agglutination test (MAT). Antibodies to T. gondii (MAT 1:25 or higher) were detected in 15.6% of red deer. Statistically significant differences were observed among sampling sites with...

Doñana National Park (DNP) in southern Spain is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve where commercial hunting and wildlife artificial feeding do not take place and traditional cattle husbandry still exists. Herein, we hypothesized that Mycobacterium bovis infection prevalence in wild ungulates will depend on host ecology and that variation in prevalence will reflect variation in the interaction between h...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, Rb, Cs, Sr and Ba in the muscles of red deer that were hunted in two regions of Poland (south-western and north-eastern). The data obtained were evaluated with regards to benefits and potential risk to consumers' health. Samples for the investigations were collected in 2008 and 2009 from 50 female red deer, and the metal co...

Anti-predator responses by ungulates can be based on habitat features or on the near-imminent threat of predators. In dense forest, cues that ungulates use to assess predation risk likely differ from half-open landscapes, as scent relative to sight is predicted to be more important. We studied, in the Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland), whether perceived predation risk in red deer (Cervus elap...

JANICKI, Z., D. KONJEVIĆ, A. SLAVICA, K. SEVERIN: Reversible chemical immobilization of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) using tiletamine-zolazepam xylazine hydrochloride mixture. Vet. arhiv 76, 237-244, 2006. ABSTRACT Fifteen live-trapped red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) were immobilized during January 2002 in the Baranja region of Croatia. The main purpose of the manipulation was the first indiv...

Opening of the pre-orbital gland in red deer (Cervus elaphus) was previously found to be associated with feeding and negatively associated with achieving satiety in bottle-reared red deer calves. We speculated that this acted as a signal from a calf to the mother that it was hungry. Thus, we focused on a possible association between the pre-orbital gland opening and the sucking behavior in red ...

The presence of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) was analyzed in different free-living wild animals to assess the genetic diversity and predominant genotypes on each animal species. Samples were taken from the skin and/or nares, and isolates were characterized by spa typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The proportion of MSSA ca...

Landscape features have been shown to strongly influence dispersal and, consequently, the genetic population structure of organisms. Studies quantifying the effect of landscape features on gene flow of large mammals with high dispersal capabilities are rare and have mainly been focused at large geographical scales. In this study, we assessed the influence of several natural and human-made lands...

Gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes are among the most important causes of production loss in farmed ruminants, and anthelmintic resistance is emerging globally. We hypothesized that wild deer could potentially act as reservoirs of anthelmintic-resistant GI nematodes between livestock farms. Adult abomasal nematodes and faecal samples were collected from fallow (n = 24), red (n = 14) and roe deer (...