Study reveals potential new disease threats for wild snow leopards

JUNE 7, 2019

by Taylor & Francis

The first study to investigate disease threats to wild snow leopards has detected that exposure to infections may pose a threat to this highly vulnerable species, as well as local people and their livestock.

The results of the study, published in Infection Ecology & Epidemiology, detected antibodies in the blood of wild cats to important pathogens that can also infect humans and other species.

Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are a threatened and highly vulnerable species of the mountainous ranges of Central Asia. There are now as few as 4,000 snow leopards in the wild, and their numbers continue to decline. They face many threats, including poaching, habitat loss, the impact of climate change and conflict with herders. Emerging infectious diseases can particularly impact on species where populations are already depleted, and genetic diversity may be low. However, information is currently lacking about whether wild snow leopards are also under threat from disease.

Prompted by the discovery of four snow leopards with unexplained causes of death in the South Gobi Province of Mongolia in 2011, an international team of researchers set out to investigate important zoonotic pathogens that may impact conservation efforts. The researchers decided to target disease-causing pathogens that can circulate between different species, as the area is also home to many other wild animals, as well approximately 90 herder families and their goats, horses and domestic dogs.

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Scythian horse breeding unveiled: Lessons for animal domestication

Date: April 27, 2017

Source: Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen

Nomad Scythian herders roamed vast areas spanning the Central Asian steppes during the Iron Age, approximately from the 9th to the 1st century BCE (Before Common Era). These livestock pastoralists, who lived on wagons covered by tents, left their mark in the history of warfare for their exceptional equestrian skills. They were among the first to master mounted riding and to make use of composite bows while riding. A new study published in Science led by Professor Ludovic Orlando and involving 33 international researchers from 16 universities, now reveals the suite of traits that Scythian breeders selected to engineer the type of horse that best fit their purpose.

The study took advantage of exceptionally preserved horse remains in royal Scythian burials, such as the site of Arzhan, Tuva Republic, where over 200 horses have been excavated but also at Berel', Kazakhstan, where no less than 13 horses were preserved in a single, permafrozen funerary chamber. Applying the latest methods in ancient DNA research, the researchers could sequence the genome of 13 Scythian stallions. These were 2,300-2,700 years old and included 11 specimens from Berel' and two from Arzhan. The researchers also sequenced the genome of one 4,100 year-old mare from Chelyabinsk, Russia, belonging to the earlier Sintashta culture, which developed the first two-wheeled chariots drawn by horses.

The DNA variation observed at key genes revealed a large diversity of coat coloration patterns within Scythian horses, including bay, black, chestnut, cream and spotted animals. Scythian horses did not carry the mutation responsible for alternate gaits, and as a consequence, were not natural amblers. However, some but not all individuals carried variants associated with short-distance sprint performance in present-day racing horses. This indicates that Scythian breeders valued animals showing diverse endurance and speed potential.

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Dogs 'can trace origins to Central Asia'

By Paul Rincon

Science editor, BBC News website

20 October 2015 

Today's dogs can trace their origins to Central Asia, according to one of the most comprehensive genetic surveys yet.

Dogs are the most diverse animal on the planet - a legacy of thousands of years of selective breeding by humans.

But they derive from wild wolves that were gradually tamed and inducted into human hunting groups - perhaps near Mongolia or Nepal.

The findings come from an analysis of DNA from thousands of pooches, and are published in PNAS journal.

Cornell University's Dr Adam Boyko and his colleagues studied 4,676 purebred dogs from recognised breeds, as well as 549 "village dogs" - free-ranging animals that live around human settlements.

They hitched themselves to us, which was a pretty good gamble as it turned outDr Adam Boyko, Cornell University

This latter group are the least studied, yet represent a crucial piece in the picture of modern dog diversity.

"The fact that we looked at so many village dogs from so many different regions, we were able to narrow in on the patterns of diversity in these indigenous dogs," Dr Boyko told BBC News.

Dog domestication is the kind of event that could have taken place independently in different corners of the globe. But the DNA of modern pooches doesn't provide any support for this idea.

"We looked exclusively to see if there was evidence of multiple domestication events. And like every other group that's looked for that, we found no evidence of it," said Dr Boyko.

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Bubonic plague outbreak feared in central Asia

Tuesday 27 August 2013 14.48 BST

Health officials fear an outbreak of bubonic plague in central Asia after a teenage boy died from the disease and three more were admitted to hospital in Kyrgyzstan.

Temirbek Isakunov, a 15-year-old from a mountain village near the border with Kazakhstan, reportedly died from the disease last week after eating an infected barbecued marmot. Kyrgyzstan's emergency ministry said a young woman and two children from a different village who came into contact with Isakunov were hospitalised on Tuesday with the high fever and swelling around the neck and armpits characteristic of bubonic plague, local news outlets reported.

A total of 131 people, including 33 medical personnel, have been quarantined, although none of them have yet exhibited symptoms of the disease, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in Kyrgyzstan reported. The health ministry continues to find and quarantine people who came into contact with the teenager, according to its director.

Kazakhstan has stepped up its border control with Kyrgyzstan and is operating quarantine points in light of the possible outbreak, the news agency Tengrinews reported. The Kazakh health ministry is searching out people who might have come into contact with the dead teenager, and is also determining where animal carriers of the disease might be moving between the two countries, according to a ministry official.

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Los Angeles campgrounds closed after plague-infected squirrel found

Thursday 25 July 2013 18.59 BST

Health authorities have closed three campgrounds in a forest near Los Angeles after the discovery of a squirrel infected with the plague.

County officials and the US Forest Service shut the campgrounds in Angeles national forest on Wednesday after a trapped squirrel tested positive for the disease.

"Plague is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas, which is why we close affected campgrounds and recreational areas as a precaution while preventive measures are taken to control the flea population," Jonathan Fielding, head of the county health department, said in an advisory.

Bubonic plague was known as the black death when it devastated medieval Europe, killing millions, but is now rare, treatable with antibiotics and seldom fatal to humans. There have been just four cases of human plague in LA county residents since 1984, said Fielding. All survived.

The shuttered campgrounds, Twisted Arrow, Broken Blade and Pima Loops, are on Table Mountain, part of the San Gabriel mountains, near the town of Wrightwood.

The ground squirrel – part of a group so named for preferring to live on the ground rather than trees – was trapped for routine surveillance on July 16. The test result was confirmed on Tuesday.

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