Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) cannibalistic behaviour and the prevalence of Trichinella britovi in NW Italian Alps

Abstract

Food habits of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) were studied in the Aosta Valley region (NW Italian Alps) and were related to the prevalence of Trichinella infection in the red fox itself and in two Mustelid species (the stone marten (Martes foina) and the badger (Meles meles)). The search of Trichinella by the automatic digestion of muscles samples led us to determine a prevalence of 3.5+/-1.2% in red foxes, 7.9+/-4.3% in stone martens and 1.9+/-1.8% in badgers, with no significant differences among the species. All larvae were identified as Trichinella britovi. The fox diet was assessed through the analysis of both faeces (n=180) and the stomach contents of road-killed animals (n=109). Our results confirmed the opportunistic feeding behaviour of the red fox, which is able to use various trophic resources, both of animal and vegetal origin: e.g. wild and cultivated fruits (F%=47.1; V%=67.3), rodents (F%=22.8; V%=64.8) and carrion (F%=15.6; V%=78.6) formed the bulk of the fox's diet. The frequency of occurrence of potential events of cannibalism was 1.0%, even if the complete absence of undigested remains, other than hairs, suggested the possibility of confusing cannibalism with coat-cleaning. We suggest that intra-specific necrophagy could not represent the unique way of transmission of the nematode in natural conditions.

Molecular identification of Trichinella britovi in martens (Martes martes) and badgers (Meles meles); new host records in Poland

“…The absence of Trichinella spp. in mentioned studies is in agreement with very low prevalence in the badgers reported by Torres et al (2001) in Spain (2.1%) or Remonti et al (2005) in Italy (1.9%). On the contrary, only a few cases of Trichinella infection have been reported for the pine martens (Martes martes) or stone martens (Martes folina), although their habitat of forming family groups and sharing the same sets implicate favorable management of Trichinella transmission (Woodroffe and Macdonald 1993).…”

“…The high prevalence among martens, suggests that these animals are important reservoir of the parasite in these countries. In other studies by Remonti et al (2005) and T. britovi larvae were present in 13.2% and 37.9% of examined martens, respectively. Additionally in Lithuania, two cases of infection in martens were classified as T. britovi, and in a third marten, a triple infection was noticed: T. britovi, T. nativa and T. spiralis (Malakauskas et al 2007).…”

Wild carnivores as source of zoonotic helminths in north-eastern Italy

“…Finally, previous records of Trichinella sp. in northern Italy mainly concerned carnivores from western regions (Di Matteo et al, 1991;Remonti et al, 2005). Therefore, the detection of Trichinella sp.…”

Assessing carnivore diet by faecal samples and stomach contents: a case study with Alpine red foxes

“…The aim of our study was to compare fox diets using analysis of stomach contents and faecal samples in the western Italian Alps, where the red fox has been reported to rely mainly on rodents, wild fruit, and ungulate carrion [20][21][22].…”