Category: Blog

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Expanding The Reach Of Animal Science: Reproduction In White-Tailed Deer | UI News Bureau

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The CWD research team: Jan Novakofski, Nohra Mateus-Pinilla and Michelle Green. Photo by: L. Brian Stauffer

CHAMPAIGN, IL – In an effort to better understand the transmission dynamics of chronic wasting disease and the long-term health of the white-tailed deer herd in Illinois, the group recently investigated the trends in reproduction among females. The team has extraordinary access to samples through the state of Illinois Department of Natural Resources that annually collects fetuses from culled deer from January through March, a prime time for females to be pregnant.

Read the whole story at the “Tails” of Animal Sciences newsletter (March 2017, page 4).

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Record levels of banned insecticide found in Illinois otters | By Eric Freedman

 

The study published in the journal “Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety” found high concentrations of chemical compounds in the livers of 23 otters in central Illinois.

“Thus otters serve as biomonitors — organisms that contain information on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the environment — of wildlife exposure,” according to a new study. They also serve as biomonitors for human health because the same toxic chemicals found in otters have also been found in people who eat contaminated fish.

Estimated use of dieldrin. Graphic: Samantha Carpenter, Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“there are specific watersheds that are areas of concern — not only for otters — for any of the wildlife species that are living in those places, especially those at the top of the food chain.”

 

Read the whole story at Great Lakes Echo, here.

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Targeted culling of deer controls disease with little effect on hunting | By Diana Yates

A new study found that the targeted culling of deer prevents the rampant spread of chronic wasting disease to healthy deer. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.
A new study found that the targeted culling of deer prevents the rampant spread of chronic wasting disease to healthy deer. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.

CHAMPAIGN, IL. – Chronic wasting disease, the deer-equivalent of mad cow disease, has crept across the U.S. landscape from west to east. It appeared first in captive mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s. By 1981, it had escaped to the wild. It reached the Midwest by 2002. Little is known about its potential to infect humans.

Read the whole story by the University of Illinois News Bureau here.

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Illinois river otters still exposed to chemicals banned decades ago | By Diana Yates

from left – Samantha Carpenter, wildlife technical assistant; Kuldeep Singh, Clinical Assistant Professor, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Clinical Assistant Professor, Pathobiology ; Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiologist INHS ; and Jan Novakofski, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for Compliance, Professor of Animal Sciences, Professor of Nutritional Sciences. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.

 

CHAMPAIGN, IL. – Researchers report that river otters in Central Illinois are being exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides that were banned in the U.S. in the 1970s and ’80s.

Read the whole story by the University of Illinois News Bureau here.

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Adaptability of deer ticks back in the limelight

INHS Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiologist Nohra Mateus-Pinilla and her research on lyme diseasevectors were featured in an article in the Danville Commercial News and also discussed in a segment on Chicago Tonight about Science in Illinois.  Deer ticks have been spreading and are now found in 26 Illinois counties.

 

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Mateus-Pinilla’s study at Allerton park showed high numbers of infected individuals in prairie habitats, rather than the typical forest habitat.  Based on the study, it appears that Lyme disease and deer ticks may be more adaptable than previously known.  With regards to the lack of studies on ticks and lyme disease, Mateus-Pinilla said, “There are a lot of unknowns.  It seems like we have very little work on the ground being done.”

Read the whole story at the Illinois Natural History Survey blog.

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Lyme disease tick adapts to life on the (fragmented) prairie | By Diana Yates

The Lyme disease tick, seen here in its larval, nymph and adult forms, is advancing across "the prairie state." Photo by Illinois Natural History Survey.
The Lyme disease tick, seen here in its larval, nymph and adult forms, is advancing across “the prairie state.” Photo by Illinois Natural History Survey.

CHAMPAIGN, lL. – A new study offers a detailed look at the status of Lyme disease in Central Illinois and suggests that deer ticks and the Lyme disease bacteria they host are more adaptable to new habitats than previously appreciated.

Read the whole story by the University of Illinois News Bureau here.

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Cats pass disease to wildlife, even in remote areas | By Diana Yates

Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, left, a wildlife veterinary epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute, with graduate student Shannon Fredebaugh, led a study that found that cats spread disease to wildlife even in remote parts of a 1,500-acre natural area. Mateus-Pinilla is a researcher with the Illinois Natural History Survey, one of the surveys in the PRI. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.
Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, left, a wildlife veterinary epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute, with graduate student Shannon Fredebaugh, led a study that found that cats spread disease to wildlife even in remote parts of a 1,500-acre natural area. Mateus-Pinilla is a researcher with the Illinois Natural History Survey, one of the surveys in the PRI. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.

CHAMPAIGN, lL. – Researchers tracking the spread of Toxoplasma gondii – a parasite that reproduces only in cats but sickens and kills many other animals – have found infected wildlife throughout a 1,500-acre (600-hectare) natural area in central Illinois.

Read the whole story by the University of Illinois News Bureau here.