Texas Wildlife Identification Guide
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Cervid TB DPP Testing August 2017
Cervid TB DPP Testing August 2017 Elisabeth Patton, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVIM Veterinary Program Manager Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Division of Animal Health Why Use the Serologic Test? Employ newer, accurate diagnostic test technology Minimizes capture and handling events for animal safety Expected to promote additional cervid TB testing • Requested by USAHA and cervid industry Comparable sensitivity and specificity to skin tests 2 Historical Timeline 3 Stat-Pak licensed for elk and red deer, 2009 White-tailed and fallow deer, 2010-11 2010 - USAHA resolution - USDA evaluate Stat-Pak as official TB test 2011 – Project to evaluate TB serologic tests in cervids (Cervid Serology Project); USAHA resolution to approve Oct 2012 – USDA licenses the Dual-Path Platform (DPP) secondary test for elk, red deer, white-tailed deer, and fallow deer Improved specificity compared to Stat-Pak Oct 2012 – USDA approves the Stat-Pak (primary) and DPP (secondary) as official bovine TB tests in elk, red deer, white- tailed deer, fallow deer and reindeer Recent Actions Stat-Pak is no longer in production 9 CFR 77.20 has been amended to approve the DPP as official TB program test. An interim rule was published on 9 January 2013 USDA APHIS created a Guidance Document (6701.2) to provide instructions for using the tests https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_ diseases/tuberculosis/downloads/vs_guidance_670 1.2_dpp_testing.pdf 4 Cervid Serology Project Objective 5 Evaluate TB detection tests for official bovine tuberculosis (TB) program use in captive and free- ranging cervids North American elk (Cervus canadensis) White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) Primary/screening test AND Secondary Test: Dual Path Platform (DPP) Rapid immunochromatographic lateral-flow serology test Detect antibodies to M. -
Winged Undertakers Digest the Deceased STORY and PHOTOS by LOWELL WASHBURN
nderrated and nappreciated Winged Undertakers Digest the Deceased STORY AND PHOTOS BY LOWELL WASHBURN 28 Iowa outdoors • JULY / AUGUST 2008 Although no one can for sure say why, turkey vultures have become increasingly common during the past two decades. Often referred to as “TVs” by birding enthusiasts, turkey vultures derive their name from the featherless, red heads of adults. And there’s no denying that, at least from a distance, a roosted vulture does somewhat resemble a male wild turkey. There’s good reason for the vulture’s distinctive, though ugly, bare head. As an avid consumer of carrion, TVs routinely forage in some pretty nasty places. The complete lack of head and neck feathers aids in maintaining cleanliness. Contrary to popular belief, vultures are among the cleanest of birds, spending up to four hours per day bathing and preening—more time than is documented for any other Iowa bird. WWW.IOWADNR.GOV 29 “It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.” t’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.” than a bit disgusting. But for hungry vultures, the opportunity We’ve all heard that line a thousand times. represented nothing less than a four-star banquet—an asphalt But for me, the well-worn phrase gained new version of a carrion eater’s 21 Club of New York fame. “ meaning as I paused to watch members of a local After slowing and pulling aside to observe, it quickly Ihighway cleanup crew doing their dirty job. became apparent this bird show was not designed The crew was a gathering of turkey vultures, and for anyone with a queasy stomach. -
Bison and Elk in Yellowstone National Park - Linking Ecosystem, Animal Nutrition, and Population Processes
Bison and Elk in Yellowstone National Park - Linking Ecosystem, Animal Nutrition, and Population Processes Part 3 - Final Report to U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Division Bozeman, MT Project: Spatial-Dynamic Modeling of Bison Carrying Capacity in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: A Synthesis of Bison Movements, Population Dynamics, and Interactions with Vegetation Michael B. Coughenour Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado December 2005 INTRODUCTION Over the last three decades bison in Yellowstone National Park have increased in numbers and expanded their ranges inside the park up to and beyond the park boundaries (Meagher 1989a,b, Taper et al. 2000, Meagher et al. 2003). Potentially, they have reached, if not exceeded the capacity of the park to support them. The bison are infected with brucellosis, and it is feared that the disease will be readily transmitted to domestic cattle, with widespread economic repercussions. Brucellosis is an extremely damaging disease for livestock, causing abortions and impaired calf growth. After a long campaign beginning in 1934 and costing over $1.3 billion (Thorne et al. 1991), brucellosis has been virtually eliminated from cattle and bison everywhere in the conterminous United States except in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Infection of any livestock in Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming would result in that state losing its brucellosis-free status, leading to considerable economic hardships resulting from intensified surveillance, testing, and control (Thorne et al. 1991). Management alternatives that have been considered include hazing animals back into the park, the live capture and holding of animals that leave the park, and culling or removal from within the park. -
Coyote Reservoir & Harvey Bear..…
Coyote Reservoir & Harvey Bear..…. February 24, south Santa Clara County Quick Overview – Watching the weather reports we all saw the storm coming, but a group of adventurous souls arrived with all their rain gear and ready to go regardless of the elements, and what a day we had! Once east of Gilroy and traveling through the country roads we realized that soaking wet birds create unique ID challenges. With characteristic feathers in disarray and the wet plumages now appearing much darker we had to leave some questionable birds off our list. We had wanted to walk some of the trails that make up the new Harvey Bear Ranch Park, but the rain had us doing most of our birding from the cars which was easy along Coyote Reservoir Road as it parallels the lake. It also makes it easy when no one else is in the park. We could stop anywhere we wanted and we were not in anyone’s way – a birder’s dream come true! Watching Violet Green Swallows by the hundreds reminded us all that spring is near. And at one stop we got four woodpecker species. Ending our day watching Bald Eagles grasp fish at the surface of the water was worth our getting all wet! And I’ll not soon forget our close encounter with the dam’s Rufous Crowned Sparrow. Since we started our day at the south entrance of the park we ended Rufous Crowned Sparrow our day at the north entrance. It was here we listened to above and hard working Western Meadowlarks and watched a Say’s Phoebe. -
Crows and Ravens Wildlife Notes
12. Crows & Ravens Crows and ravens belong to the large family Corvidae, along with more than 200 other species including jays, nutcrackers and magpies. These less-than-melodious birds, you may be surprised to learn, are classified as songbirds. raven American Crow insects, grain, fruit, the eggs and young of other birds, Crows are some of the most conspicuous and best known organic garbage and just about anything that they can find of all birds. They are intelligent, wary and adapt well to or overpower. Crows also feed on the carcasses of winter – human activity. As with most other wildlife species, crows and road-killed animals. are considered to have “good” points and “bad” ones— value judgements made strictly by humans. They are found Crows have extremely keen senses of sight and hearing. in all 50 states and parts of Canada and Mexico. They are wary and usually post sentries while they feed. Sentry birds watch for danger, ready to alert the feeding birds with a sharp alarm caw. Once aloft, crows fly at 25 Biology to 30 mph. If a strong tail wind is present, they can hit 60 Also known as the common crow, an adult American mph. These skillful fliers have a large repertoire of moves crow weighs about 20 ounces. Its body length is 15 to 18 designed to throw off airborne predators. inches and its wings span up to three feet. Both males Crows are relatively gregarious. Throughout most of the and females are black from their beaks to the tips of their year, they flock in groups ranging from family units to tails. -
MOVEMENTS of MARKED SEA and DIVING DUCKS in EUROPE Hugh Boyd
MOVEMENTS OF MARKED SEA AND DIVING DUCKS IN EUROPE Hugh Boyd R inging of dabbling ducks in Europe has helped considerably in discovering the patterns of their distribution and movement through the year. By comparison our knowledge of the behaviour of British species of the tribes Aythyini and Mergini is meagre, chiefly because they are harder to catch outside the breeding season. The numbers marked in Britain have been small, and seem unlikely to be rapidly increased, but ringers in some countries where these ducks breed more plentifully have marked considerably more. Captures of adults, mostly females taken on the nest, have been particularly informative. This paper reviews the results so far apparent. It is based on published and unpublished British records, and on the published material of foreign ringing schemes. I am indebted to the British Trust for Ornithology for permission to use data relating to ducks not ringed at Wildfowl Trust stations. A card index of recoveries compiled by Dr. W. Rydzewski for the International Wildfowl Research Bureau provides a convenient summary of all but the most recent records published abroad, and I am grateful to Dr. Rydzewski and the officers of the Bureau for access to this index. Table I summarises the amount of information obtainable from recoveries and reveals many of its inadequacies. Clearly samples as small as these cannot provide highly reliable and detailed guides to distribution, especially of species which are treated as sporting birds in some countries but not in others. However, by considering the recoveries against the background provided by published studies on the distribution of each species it is possible to form some ideas on the breeding distribution of the populations visiting Britain in winter. -
Educator's Guide
Educator’s Guide the jill and lewis bernard family Hall of north american mammals inside: • Suggestions to Help You come prepared • essential questions for Student Inquiry • Strategies for teaching in the exhibition • map of the Exhibition • online resources for the Classroom • Correlations to science framework • glossary amnh.org/namammals Essential QUESTIONS Who are — and who were — the North as tundra, winters are cold, long, and dark, the growing season American Mammals? is extremely short, and precipitation is low. In contrast, the abundant precipitation and year-round warmth of tropical All mammals on Earth share a common ancestor and and subtropical forests provide optimal growing conditions represent many millions of years of evolution. Most of those that support the greatest diversity of species worldwide. in this hall arose as distinct species in the relatively recent Florida and Mexico contain some subtropical forest. In the past. Their ancestors reached North America at different boreal forest that covers a huge expanse of the continent’s times. Some entered from the north along the Bering land northern latitudes, winters are dry and severe, summers moist bridge, which was intermittently exposed by low sea levels and short, and temperatures between the two range widely. during the Pleistocene (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago). Desert and scrublands are dry and generally warm through- These migrants included relatives of New World cats (e.g. out the year, with temperatures that may exceed 100°F and dip sabertooth, jaguar), certain rodents, musk ox, at least two by 30 degrees at night. kinds of elephants (e.g. -
Hunting Deer in California
HUNTING DEER IN CALIFORNIA We hope this guide will help deer hunters by encouraging a greater understanding of the various subspecies of mule deer found in California and explaining effective hunting techniques for various situations and conditions encountered throughout the state during general and special deer seasons. Second Edition August 2002 STATE OF CALIFORNIA Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME L. Ryan Broddrick, Director WILDLIFE PROGRAMS BRANCH David S. Zezulak, Ph.D., Chief Written by John Higley Technical Advisors: Don Koch; Eric Loft, Ph.D.; Terry M. Mansfield; Kenneth Mayer; Sonke Mastrup; Russell C. Mohr; David O. Smith; Thomas B. Stone Graphic Design and Layout: Lorna Bernard and Dana Lis Cover Photo: Steve Guill Funded by the Deer Herd Management Plan Implementation Program TABLE OF CON T EN T S INTRODUCT I ON ................................................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 1: THE DEER OF CAL I FORN I A .........................................................................................................7 Columbian black-tailed deer ....................................................................................................................8 California mule deer ................................................................................................................................8 Rocky Mountain mule deer .....................................................................................................................9 -
Turkey Vulture AKA: Turkey Buzzard, Buzzard, Vulture, Carrion Crow, Carrion Buzzard, Etc
Turkey Vulture AKA: Turkey Buzzard, Buzzard, Vulture, Carrion Crow, Carrion Buzzard, etc. Scientific Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Aves, Incertae sedis (disputed), Cathartidae; Cathartes; C. aura. Bird Size & Markings: Adult Turkey Vultures can be 32” long, stand 30” high and have 6 foot wingspans. Males and females have brownish-black body plum- age, silvery-gray flight feathers, bare red heads and a short yellow hooked bill. Turkey Vultures have very limited vocalization; it can only hiss or grunt. Habitat: The Turkey Vulture is the most abundant vulture in the Americas. It is commonly found in open and semi-open areas throughout the Americas from southern Canada to Cape Horn. It is a permanent resident in southern US States, though northern birds may migrate as far as South America. It prefers to roost on tall dead trees or high bare cliffs. It will roost on man-made structures such as water towers, skyscrapers, billboards and other structures of sufficient height. Nesting/Dens: There is little or no construction of a nest; eggs are laid on bare surfaces in protected locations such as a cliff, cave, burrow or inside a hollow A Turkey Vulture’s primary method of defence tree. They lay 1 or 2 eggs for each brood. Chicks fledge 9 to 10 weeks after hatch- is the projection vomiting of semi-digested car- ing. Family groups stay together until fall. rion. This deters most attackers (No doubt!). Food: Turkey Vultures prefer to feed on fresh carrion ranging in size from small mammals and dead fish to dead cattle and other grazers. They prefer fresh car- rion and avoid rotting carcasses. -
Symposium on the Gray Squirrel
SYMPOSIUM ON THE GRAY SQUIRREL INTRODUCTION This symposium is an innovation in the regional meetings of professional game and fish personnel. When I was asked to serve as chairman of the Technical Game Sessions of the 13th Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners this seemed to be an excellent opportunity to collect most of the people who have done some research on the gray squirrel to exchange information and ideas and to summarize some of this work for the benefit of game managers and other biologists. Many of these people were not from the southeast and surprisingly not one of the panel mem bers is presenting a general resume of one aspect of squirrel biology with which he is most familiar. The gray squirrel is also important in Great Britain but because it causes extensive damage to forests. Much work has been done over there by Monica Shorten (Mrs. Vizoso) and a symposium on the gray squirrel would not be complete without her presence. A grant from the National Science Foundation through the American Institute of Biological Sciences made it possible to bring Mrs. Vizoso here. It is hoped that this symposium will set a precedent for other symposia at future wildlife conferences. VAGN FLYGER. THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE GRAY SQUIRREL, SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS, TO ITS NEAREST RELATIVES By DR. ]. C. MOORE INTRODUCTION It seems at least slightly more probable at this point in our knowledge of the living Sciuridae, that the northeastern American gray squirrel's oldest known ancestors came from the Old \Vorld rather than evolved in the New. -
Role of Habitat in the Distribution and Abundance of Marsh Birds
s 542 .18 S74 no.;43 1965 Role of Habitat in the Distribution and Abundance of Marsh Birds by Milton W. Weller and Cecil S. Spatcher Department of Zoology and Entomology Special Report No. 43 Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station Iowa State University of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa- April 1965 IOWA STATE TRA YEUNG LIBRARY DES MOlNESt 'IOWA CONTENTS Summary ---------------------- -- --------------------------------------- --- ------------------------------ --- ----------- 4 Introduction ------------------- ---- ------ --- -------- ----- ------------------------------ ---------------------- --- ---- 5 Study areas --------- -- --- --- --- -------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------- --------- 5 Methods ----------- --- ----------- --------- ------------------------------------------------------- --- -------------------- 6 Vegetation ---------------------------- ------------ --- -------------------------- --- ------------------ -- -------- 6 Bird populations ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- 6 Results ______ _ __ ____ __ _ __ ___ __ __ __ ______ __ ___ ___ __ _ _ _ ____ __ __ ___ __ ______ __ __ _____ ______ ____ ___ __ _ _ ____ ___ _____ __ __ ___ ___ _ 6 Species composition and chronology of nesting -------------------------------------- 6 Habitat changes at Little Wall and Goose lakes ------ -------------------------------- 8 Bird populations in relation to habitat ----------- ---- ----------- -------------------------- 11 Distribution -
A Genus-Level Phylogenetic Analysis of Antilocapridae And
A GENUS-LEVEL PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF ANTILOCAPRIDAE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF HEADGEAR MORPHOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY by HOLLEY MAY FLORA A THESIS Presented to the Department of EArth Sciences And the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partiAl fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MAster of Science September 2019 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Holley MAy Flora Title: A Genus-level Phylogenetic Analysis of AntilocApridae and ImplicAtions for the Evolution of HeAdgeAr Morphology and PAleoecology This Thesis has been accepted and approved in partiAl fulfillment of the requirements for the MAster of Science degree in the Department of EArth Sciences by: EdwArd Byrd DAvis Advisor SAmAntha S. B. Hopkins Core Member Matthew Polizzotto Core Member Stephen Frost Institutional RepresentAtive And JAnet Woodruff-Borden DeAn of the Graduate School Original Approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School Degree awArded September 2019. ii ã 2019 Holley MAy Flora This work is licensed under a CreAtive Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii THESIS ABSTRACT Holley MAy Flora MAster of Science Department of EArth Sciences September 2019 Title: A Genus-level Phylogenetic Analysis of AntilocApridae and ImplicAtions for the Evolution of HeAdgeAr Morphology and PAleoecology The shapes of Artiodactyl heAdgeAr plAy key roles in interactions with their environment and eAch other. Consequently, heAdgeAr morphology cAn be used to predict behavior. For eXAmple, lArger, recurved horns are typicAl of gregarious, lArge-bodied AnimAls fighting for mAtes. SmAller spike-like horns are more characteristic of small- bodied, paired mAtes from closed environments. Here, I report a genus-level clAdistic Analysis of the extinct family, AntilocApridae, testing prior hypotheses of evolutionary history And heAdgeAr evolution.