Pathological findings in a captive colony of maras (Dolichotis patagonum)

Abstract

This paper describes the causes of death of 54 maras (Dolichotis patagonum) in a captive colony in Mexico over a period of seven years. There were 35 adults, 11 juveniles, five neonates, two fetuses and one stillbirth--27 males, 21 females and six whose sex was not determined. Trauma was the cause of 25 deaths, and there were eight cases of fatal bacterial infection. Besnoitiosis was the only parasitic disease found frequently (13 cases), and was associated with fatal interstitial pneumonia in three juveniles. Right-sided hypertrophic cardiomyopathy attributed to high altitude was observed in 26 maras, and in three cases death was attributed to acute cardiac dysfunction. Two maras died of disseminated histoplasmosis and two of hyperthermia. Additional causes of death included one case each of uterine torsion, intestinal intussusception, aspiration pneumonia and hydranencephaly. Gastric erosions with luminal haemorrhage were found in 27 of the maras and splenic lymphoid depletion in 20, changes that were attributed to stress.

Intrinsic factors, adrenal gland morphology, and disease burden in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in South Africa

“…Similar findings are described in domestic dogs [Bento et al, ] but not in cheetahs [Kirberger and Tordiffe, ] in which female cheetahs had longer AGs with greater ACMRs than males when corrected for body size. Adrenal weight depends on season and sexual maturity in male maras ( Dolichotis patagonum ) [Rosas‐Rosas et al, ] and golden hamsters ( Mesocricetus auratus ) [Percy and Barthold, ]; and male cheetahs are thought to be less susceptible than females to social stress, if housed in small groups [Caro, ], but the reproductive, season, and housing status of cheetahs in our study were not examined. Although adrenal morphology showed correlations with disease burden (mainly with non‐kidney diseases [gastritis, myocardial fibrosis] and secondary diseases [liver atrophy, nephritis, and goiter]) the need for age and sex‐specific measurement likely limits the practical value of adrenal morphology as a proxy for disease in cheetahs.…”

The unusual case of a renal urolith in a Mara (Dolichotis patagonum, Zimmermann 1780) in captivity

“…Pseudotuberculosis, poxvirus and histoplasmosis are some of the infectious diseases most commonly described in these animals in captivity (Batard and Lahitte, 2009). The few reports of pathology affecting the urinary tract on maras are related to a segmental aplasia of the left ureter with severe secondary unilateral hydronephrosis in a mara xx that died of trauma, described by Rosas-Rosas et al (2006). This is the first report of renal and urethral lithiasis, with hydronephrosis on a D. patagonum.…”

Torsion of the caudate lobe of the liver and concurrent necrohemorrhagic typhlocolitis in a zoo-housed Patagonian mara

“…In an analysis of clinical disease affecting a zoo-housed colony of maras in Mexico, bacterial infection caused 8 of 54 deaths within the colony, but none of these fatalities were attributed to infection with Salmonella . 12 Salmonella spp. infection has been recorded at a zoologic garden in Japan where a number of Patagonian maras exhibited multi-organ system hemorrhage and necrosis attributed to Salmonella enterica subsp.…”