Canine distemper virus is a member of the genus Morbillivirus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Canine distemper has been recorded in domestic dogs for centuries. It is now recognized as a worldwide problem of carnivores and has the second highest fatality rate of any infectious disease, after rabies, in domestic dogs. The importance of this disease in nondomestic animals has become evident with v...

Changes in the relative abundance of sympatric carnivores can have far-reaching ecological consequences, including the precipitation of trophic cascades and species declines. While such observations are compelling, experimental evaluations of interactions among carnivores remain scarce and are both logistically and ethically challenging. Carnivores are nonetheless a particular focus of manageme...

Knowledge of food web interactions is essential for understanding the role carnivores in an ecosystem and designing appropriate conservation management strategies to preserve them. These can only be understood by studying carnivores' diets obtaining comprehensive unbiased diet data. For large carnivores—which typically rely on herbivores as prey—the smaller prey species has not received attenti...

Patterns of size variation in insular mammals have been used to support the claim that mammals have a single optimal body size. This hypothesis enjoys wide support, despite having been questioned on both theoretical and empirical grounds. It is claimed that species of optimal size maintain the highest population densities. Therefore these species are thought to inhabit the smallest islands, whe...

Ahio Leopold, perhaps best known for his revolutioruiry ami poignant essays about nature, was also an eloquent advocate during the 1930$ and 1940s oj the need to maintain wolves and other targe carnivores in forest and range ecosystems. He indicated that their loss set the stage for ungulate irruptions and ecosystem damage througbout many parts of the United States. We have synthesized the hist...