Disease in wildlife or exotic species
Pathology of Free-Ranging and Captive Brazilian Anteaters

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Summary

There is little information on the anatomical pathology of Brazilian anteaters. Considering the relevance of knowledge of diseases of these species for their conservation, the aim of this study was to describe pathological changes in 99 captive and free-ranging anteaters from the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Mato Grosso do Sul and Amazonas. Forty-two animals were killed on roads and 10 died from burns injuries. Other significant conditions included the metabolic diseases of iron storage disease, tissue mineralization and taurine deficiency, protozoan and metazoan infections, candidiasis, sporotrichosis, clostridiosis and proliferative disorders including squamous cell carcinoma.

Introduction

The study of wildlife diseases involves public health and veterinary medicine professionals because wildlife pathogens often cause disease in humans and domestic animals (Wobeser, 2005) and the study of neoplasia in wildlife is highly relevant to comparative pathology (McAloose and Newton, 2009). The study of wildlife diseases is also highly relevant to animal conservation, including in zoos and other institutions, which have a mission of preserving endangered species (Moraes-Barros and Morgante, 2012).

Members of the Xenarthra superorder comprise exclusively American species, predominantly inhabiting the Neotropical biogeographical region (Martins et al, 2015). These animals are divided into the orders Cingulata (armadillos) and Pilosa (anteaters and sloths). Recently, new species of silky anteaters (Cyclopes spp) have been described in Brazil (Miranda et al, 2017), resulting in nine recognized Brazilian anteater species. Importantly in terms of conservation, the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is listed as ‘vulnerable’ (Miranda et al, 2014).

There are no studies of the pathology of a large number of anteaters and the few descriptions of disease in these species are mostly limited to clinical characteristics (Diniz et al, 1995; Miranda and Paula, 2012), serological surveys or parasitological investigations. Therefore, this retrospective observational study was designed to investigate the pathology of free-ranging and captive anteaters in Brazil.

Section snippets

Material and Methods

Necropsies, performed on 99 anteaters from 1994 to 2018, were included in this study (Supplementary Table S1). Seventy-two were from São Paulo State, 22 from Minas Gerais State, two from Mato Grosso do Sul State and three from Amazonas State. Three different species were examined, comprising 51 giant anteaters (M. tridactyla), 45 lesser anteaters (Tamandua tetradactyla) and three silky anteaters (Cyclopes sp). Twenty-seven cases were captive animals and 72 were free-ranging. A total of 51 were

Physical Injuries

Forty-two free-ranging anteaters were killed in road traffic accidents (Table 1, Supplementary Figs. S1 and S2) while 10 died from burns injuries (Table 2, Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Supplementary Figs. S3–S5) after a few days to 2 months of veterinary care, except for one animal, which was euthanized immediately after admission to the Veterinary Hospital of the Universidade Estadual Paulista.

Two free-ranging anteaters had histories of having been attacked by dogs. One of these animals, a giant

Discussion

This is the first comprehensive study of diseases affecting Brazilian free-ranging and captive anteaters, and represents an important contribution to the conservation of these species. A significant proportion of the animals in this study died from road traffic accidents and burns injuries, which is in agreement with previous reports (Martins et al, 2015) and supports the view that motor vehicle accidents are a global threat to wildlife. Fractures and rupture of internal organs, compatible with

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr David Driemeier for performing the immunohistochemistry for detection of rabies virus. Work in the laboratory of RLS is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil. RLS has a fellowship from CNPq.

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