Mountain lions prey selectively on prion-infected mule deer
| Autor: | Michael W. Miller, Mary M. Conner, Caroline E. Krumm, Don O. Hunter, N. Thompson Hobbs |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Male Colorado Range (biology) animal diseases vulnerability Prevalence Zoology selection Odocoileus 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Choice Behavior Predation prion 03 medical and health sciences Animal science Sex Factors Mountain lion medicine Odds Ratio Puma concolor Animals Wildlife management 030304 developmental biology 0303 health sciences biology chronic wasting disease Deer Chronic wasting disease biology.organism_classification medicine.disease Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) Community Ecology Predatory Behavior Wasting Disease Chronic Female predation Puma General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Disease transmission |
| Zdroj: | Biology Letters |
| ISSN: | 1744-957X 1744-9561 |
| Popis: | The possibility that predators choose prey selectively based on age or condition has been suggested but rarely tested. We examined whether mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) selectively prey upon mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) infected with chronic wasting disease, a prion disease. We located kill sites of mountain lions in the northern Front Range of Colorado, USA, and compared disease prevalence among lion-killed adult (≥2 years old) deer with prevalence among sympatric deer taken by hunters in the vicinity of kill sites. Hunter-killed female deer were less likely to be infected than males (odds ratios (OR) = 0.2, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.1–0.6; p = 0.015). However, both female (OR = 8.5, 95% CI = 2.3–30.9) and male deer (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1–10) killed by a mountain lion were more likely to be infected than same-sex deer killed in the vicinity by a hunter ( p < 0.001), suggesting that mountain lions in this area actively selected prion-infected individuals when targeting adult mule deer as prey items. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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