Cryptosporidium muris in a Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)
Cryptosporidium spp. infection in captive exotic mammals was investigated using staining and molecular biological methods. A total of 323 fecal samples from 100 mammalian species (62 Artiodactyla, 33 Rodentia, 3 Perissodactyla, and 2 Paenungultata) in 4 zoological gardens in the Czech Republic was examined. Only in a reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) sample was Cryptosporidium […]
Placental morphology in African antelopes and giraffes
Delivered placentas from nineteen antelopes and five giraffes and placentas from five antelopes dead during parturition and eight antelopes dead during advanced pregnancy were morphologically examined. Placental length and weight, arrangement, number and size of cotyledons, and other features were recorded wherever the conditions of placentas permitted. Cotyledon rows corresponded to the caruncle rows on […]
Whole genome sequence analyses of three African bovine rotaviruses reveal that they emerged through multiple reassortment events between rotaviruses from different mammalian species
Animal-to-human interspecies transmission is one of the evolutionary mechanisms driving rotavirus strain diversity in humans. Although quite a few studies emanating from Africa revealed evidence of bovine-to-human rotavirus interspecies transmission, whole genome data of African bovine rotavirus strains are not yet available. To gain insight into the complete genome constellation of African bovine rotaviruses, the […]
Scaling of mammalian long bones: small and large mammals compared
Long bones from a taxonomically diverse assemblage of extant terrestrial mammals, spanning more than three orders of magnitude in body mass, have been measured in order to evaluate earlier models proposed for limb allometry as a means of physically coping with increased body size in large species. Linear regression models are unable to explain long […]
Comparison of the fatty acid component in structural lipids from dolphins, zebra and giraffe: possible evolutionary implications
Essential fatty acid compositional data on the structural lipids of mammals which predominantly eat n‐3 fatty acids suggests preferential incorporation of n‐6 essential fatty acids. The structural lipids of liver, muscle and brain of five species of dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, Stenella allenuata, Steno bredanesis, Delphinus delphis and Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), obtained from the wild, contained substantial amounts of arachidonic […]
Diameter of coronary arteries in 36 species of mammalian from mouse to giraffe
Systematic quantitative investigations were performed in the coronary arteries of 102 hearts of 36 mammal species with an overall more than tenthousandfold difference of their heart weight. After postmortem coronary angiography with a filling pressure of 100 mm Hg x-rays were taken, and the widest diameters of the coronary artery stems were determined. We found […]
Densities of mammals in partially protected areas: the Katavi ecosystem of western Tanzania
In Africa the majority of conservation areas sanction some sort of human activities within their borders but few of them are part of community‐based conservation schemes. The effectiveness of these state‐owned, partially protected areas in conserving mammalian fauna is largely unknown. Large and medium‐sized mammal densities in three different sorts of partially protected area were […]
Physiological cross-sectional area of the masticatory muscles in the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
Numerous studies have investigated how the skeletal morphology is related to feeding behaviour (Christiansen and Adolfssen 2005; Wroe et al. 2005; Christiansen and Wroe 2007; Ellis et al. 2009; Koyabu and Endo 2009; Koyabu et al. 2009; Koyabu and Endo 2010), although remarkably few studies have focused on the architecture of masticatory muscles from which […]
Observations on the giraffe central nervous system related to the corticospinal tract, motor cortex and spinal cord: what difference does a long neck make?
The mammalian corticospinal tract is known to contain axons that travel from the cerebral cortex to various levels of the spinal cord and its main function is thought to be the mediation of voluntary movement. The current study describes neuroanatomy related to the corticospinal tract of the giraffe. This animal presents a specific morphology that […]
Holocene vegetation change and the mammal faunas of South America and Africa
Aim: Although sharing many similarities in their vegetation types, South America and Africa harbour very dissimilar recent mammal faunas, not only taxonomically but also in terms of several faunistic patterns. However late Pleistocene and mid-Holocene faunas, albeit taxonomically distinct, presented many convergent attributes. Here we propose that the effects of the Holocene climatic change on […]