Occurrence of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Synanthropic Neozoan Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca, Linnaeus 1766) in Germany

Abstract

Various studies have shown that the transmission and passage of alien and native pathogens play a critical role in the establishment process of an invasive species and its further spread. Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) are neozotic birds on various continents. They live not only in the countryside near fresh water bodies but also in urban habitats in Central Europe with close contact to humans and their pets. Although their rapid distribution in Europe is widely debated, scientific studies on the anthropozoonotic risks of the population and studies on the present endoparasites in Egyptian geese are rare worldwide. In the present study, 114 shot Egyptian geese and 148 non-invasively collected faecal samples of wild Egyptian geese from 11 different Federal States in Germany were examined. A total of 13 metazoan endoparasite species in 12 different genera were identified. The main endoparasites found were Hystrichis tricolor, Polymorphus minutus, and, in lesser abundance, Cloacotaenia sp. and Echinuria uncinata. Adult stages of Echinostoma revolutum, an anthropozoonotic heteroxenic trematode, were found in 7.9% of the animals examined postmortem. This species was additionally identified by molecular analysis. Although Egyptian geese live in communities with native waterfowl, it appears that they have a lower parasitic load in general. The acquisition of generalistic parasites in an alien species and the associated increased risk of infection for native species is known as “spill-back” and raises the question of impacts on native waterfowl. Differences between animals from rural populations and urban populations were observed. The present study represents the first large-scale survey on gastrointestinal parasites of free-ranging Egyptian geese.

Role of Free-Ranging Synanthropic Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) as Natural Host Reservoirs for Salmonella spp. in Germany

“…Consequently, many urban EG show tame behaviour toward humans and/or domestic pets, facilitating species-species interactions. Nowadays, wild EG populations can be found with high densities in numerous German cities, parks, ponds and even in public swimming pools, resulting in serious faecal (dropping) contamination of environments, as recently reported [2,9]. Especially EG droppings on lawns, around natural water bodies or within waters may result in the eutrophication of ponds, thereby having a direct detrimental impact on freshwater ecosystems.…”

“…The Egyptian goose (EG; Alopochen aegyptiaca), colloquially known in Germany as the 'Nile goose', represents a fast-spreading alien species in western Europe [1][2][3]. This…”

“…The Egyptian goose (EG; Alopochen aegyptiaca), colloquially known in Germany as the 'Nile goose', represents a fast-spreading alien species in western Europe [1][2][3]. This shelgoose species (subfamily Tandorninae) was initially brought in the 17th century as ornamental birds to parks allocated in England and in the Netherlands [4,5] (Figure 1a,c).…”

“…Today they are well-established as a neozootic species throughout Germany, but with larger populations inhabiting cities in the western parts of the country. Adults can reach up to 70 cm of height [6], with an average body weight (BW) of 2.6 kg for males and 2.2 kg for females [2]. Neozootic EG prefer habitats around small freshwater bodies in combination with open grasslands [7].…”

“…In addition, urban EG frequently form clusters, resulting in serious dropping contamination of popular public recreation areas for citizens and pets [10]. Consequently, many cities in western Germany have decided to engage professional hunters to limit numbers of urban EG in order to hamper pollution [2,11,12]. Despite these facts, there are only two reports in the literature focusing on the occurrence of intestinal zoonotic pathogens in synanthropic EG in Germany.…”