New Zealand Journal of Ecology (1998) 22(2): 113-119 ©New Zealand Ecological Society Alterio and Moller, 1997) and it is commonly thought that rabbits are the main determinant of ferret distribution and abundance in New Zealand. Ferrets have been described as opportunistic predators (Smith et al., 1995) and differences between diet studies are thought to be related to the availability of prey a...

Mammalian herbivores can be divided into two groups on the basis of the principal site of microbial fermentation. Fore-gut fermenters have an expanded and differentiated fore-stomach. Eutherian fore-gut fermenters include sloths, colobid monkeys, hippos, peccaries, camelids and ruminants. Marsupial fore-gut fermenters include the kangaroos, wallabies and rat-kangaroos. Hind-gut fermenters have ...

APOBEC1 (A1) proteins from lagomorphs and rodents have deaminase-dependent restriction activity against HIV-1, whereas human A1 exerts a negligible effect. To investigate these differences in the restriction of HIV-1 by A1 proteins, a series of chimeric proteins combining rabbit and human A1s was constructed. Homology models of the A1s indicated that their activities derive from functional doma...

T-complex testis expressed protein 1 domain containing 4 (TCTEX1D4) contains the canonical phosphoprotein phosphatase 1 (PPP1) binding motif, composed by the amino acid sequence RVSF. We identified and validated the binding of TCTEX1D4 to PPP1 and demonstrated that indeed this protein is a novel PPP1 interacting protein. Analyses of twenty-one mammalian species available in public databases and...

With the objective of studying the role of wild fauna in the epidemiology of fasciolosis disease, a definitive wild-host inventory was carried out in a french farm where infected domestic hosts (cows) cohabit with wild potential ones. Liver flukes, faecal eggs and antibodies were looked for in lagomorphs (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and rodents (Myocastor coypus, Ondatra zybethicus, Rattus norvegicu...

A new superfamily of mammalian transposable genetic elements is described with an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 members in both primate and rodent genomes. Sequences known before as MT, ORR-1, MstII, MER15 and MER18 are shown to represent (part of) the long terminal repeats of retrotransposon-like elements related to THE1 in humans. These transposons have structural similarities to retroviruses. ...

In mammals, the mass-specific rate of biomass production during gestation and lactation, here called maternal productivity, has been shown to vary with body size and lifestyle. Metabolic theory predicts that post-weaning growth of offspring, here termed juvenile productivity, should be higher than maternal productivity, and juveniles of smaller species should be more productive than those of la...

Expansion of the brain is a key feature of primate evolution. The fossil record, although incomplete, allows a partial reconstruction of changes in primate brain size and morphology through time. Palaeogene plesiadapoids, closest relatives of Euprimates (or crown-group primates), are crucial for understanding early evolution of the primate brain. However, brain morphology of this group remains ...