Two harbour porpoises of an estimated age of 1-2 years were held in captivity from April 1997 and were still alive in April 2002, after rescue from pound nets set in inner Danish waters. They are presently housed in an outdoor penned-off area of Kerteminde fjord. Their growth (total body length, girth, body weight and blubber thickness) and daily dietary intake (weight of fish, dietary composition and energy value) have been monitored since capture. The general activity of the animals was regularly monitored, including two 24-hour long observation periods. Initial body weights were 37.5 kg for Eigil (male) and 40.5 kg for Freja (female). Both porpoises lost 4 to 5 kg in the first few days because of their initial refusal to feed from the hand. Then body weight increased steadily reaching a peak of 44.75 kg for Eigil and 51.6 kg for Freja in early February 1998. A fluctuation in body weight with peaks of 44 to 45 kg for the male and 51to 56 kg for the female in winter followed by lows of 41 to 44 kg and 47 to 48 kg respectively in summer, established a clear pattern of seasonal fluctuation, mirrored by girth and blubber thickness variation. Length increased steadily from 130.5 cm to 139cm in Eigil, and from 127.5 cm to 150 cm in Freja. Food intake also fluctuated seasonally, and increases in food intake preceded weight gains. Daily food consumption in Eigil and Freja represented about 7 to 9.5% of body weight.The growth of the animals resembles that of wild porpoises in the region. The sudden initial weight losses suggested that the energy reserves of the animals may only be short-term. The large weight increase in the winter months with colder water, correlating with the increase in girth and blubber thickness, suggest that energy reserves and blubber fat may be important for insulation. During the two 24-hour observations, the animals spent most of their time cruising around, although slow swimming and logging at the surface increased at night. Breathing rates were lower in the early morning hours, consistent with diminished activity. Both animals’ movements were influenced by external activities at poolside.

Pingers on gill nets can reduce bycatch of harbor porpoises. If harbor porpoises habituate to pingers, the effect may be reduced or lost. Two captive harbor porpoises were exposed to three sound types. All sounds were in the frequency band from 100 kHz to 140 kHz, 200 ms long, and presented once per 4 s. The source level was 153 dB re 1 Pa RMS at 1 m. Each session consisted of a 10-min presound, a 5-min sound, and a 10-min postsound period. Behavior was recorded on video and on dataloggers placed on the dorsal fin of one animal. The loggers recorded heart rate, swimming speed, dive duration, and depth. The animals responded most strongly 1 Current address: Odense Zoo,

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Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)α1 is activated in the context of triacylglycerol hydrolysis in adipose tissue in monogastric animals. This study describes AMPKα1 protein expression and the occurrence of its phosphorylated form (pAMPKα1) in different adipose tissue depots as influenced by time and postpartum diet in dairy cows. Biopsy samples were obtained from subcutaneous (SCAT) and retroperitoneal (RPAT) adipose tissues of 20 Holstein cows 21 d prepartum (ap) and 1 and 21 d postpartum (pp). After d 1 pp, cows were randomly assigned to 2 groups (n=10) and fed different amounts of concentrate until the third biopsy sampling at 21 d pp. Protein expression of AMPK and the extent of its phosphorylation in adipose tissue were measured by semiquantitative Western blotting. Results were not influenced by postpartum feeding. Therefore, both groups were pooled and data analyzed together. Expression of AMPKα1 in SCAT showed a decrease over time, resulting in lower expression at 1d pp compared with 21 d ap. Expression in RPAT was maintained over time. Phosphorylation increased in SCAT, showing a greater extent of phosphorylation at d 21 pp compared with 21 d ap. In RPAT, this could be seen as a trend. The proportion of pAMPKα1 to AMPKα1 significantly increased over time in both tissues. In the first adipose tissue sampling (21 d ap), AMPKα1 protein expression and extent of phosphorylation were significantly higher in RPAT than in SCAT. Lipolysis in early lactation of dairy cows was associated with an increase in phosphorylation of AMPKα1 and ratio of pAMPKα1 to AMPKα1 in bovine adipose tissues. This indicates that AMPKα1 may be involved in the regulation of energy metabolism of bovine adipose tissues.

The rapid development of precocial goats in the first weeks after birth requires an adequate adaptation of phosphate transport systems to maintain the P homeostasis at each developmental stage. Here we examined the age-related development of Na+-Pi transport systems in small intestines, kidneys, and parotid glands of goats. Kinetic parameters were determined by brush-border membrane vesicle uptake studies, and relative expression of NaPi type II mRNA and protein was recorded by molecular biological methods. High intestinal Pi transport capacity was already present on the first day of life. Within the first 3 wk of life there seemed to be a change in the type of Na+-dependent Pi transporter, and NaPi IIb was expressed increasingly up to the fifth month of life. Renal Na+-Pi transport capacity was also high at birth, and this was associated with high expression levels of NaPi IIa mRNA, indicating the important role of this transporter for renal Pi reabsorption. At weaning an increase in both intestinal and renal Na+-Pi transport balanced the increasing requirements for Pi to establish the endogenous Pi cycle. Salivary Pi concentration and parotid NaPi II mRNA rose markedly to guarantee an adequate Pi supply for rumen microbes. We concluded that the high demand for Pi in young goats was assured by high basal Na+-Pi transport capacity of small intestines and kidney expressed continuously during ontogenesis.

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater than expected, and the hearing thresholds are comparable to seals and toothed whales in the frequency band 1-4 kHz. This opens up the possibility of cormorants and other aquatic birds having special adaptations for underwater hearing and making use of underwater acoustic cues from, e.g., conspecifics, their surroundings, as well as prey and predators.

No abstract

Staphylococcus aureus septicaemia was diagnosed in a dead, stranded harbour porpoise from the German Baltic Sea and in a live harbour porpoise by-caught in inner Danish waters and taken into captivity. Lesions included pyogranulomatous myocarditis, necrotising suppurative bronchopneumonia, pyelonephritis, osteomyelitis and leptomeningitis, and abscesses in lymph nodes and skeletal muscles. The captive animal had fibrinous suppurative epicarditis and pyogranulomatous myocarditis with abscesses. In both animals the organism was suspected to have entered through skin lesions or via the respiratory tract.