School of Veterinary Medicine

Heavy Necking: New Insights Into the Sex Life of Giraffes

by Kat Kerlin, UC Davis News
February 15, 2023

A study from the University of California, Davis, provides new insight into the unique sex life of giraffes, their reproductive behavior, and how their anatomy supports that behavior.

Mountain Lion Mortality Maps Show Rough Road for Cougars

by Kat Kerlin
February 02, 2023

Environment/Wildlife

Mountain lion mortality maps from UC Davis show that many cougars suffer similar fates as P-22 along California’s roads and highways.

The Critical Relationship Between Wildlife Health and Conservation

by Trina Wood
October 17, 2022

Environment/Wildlife

A new perspective article from co-authors at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Cornell University highlight the critical relationship between wildlife health and conservation.

Endangered Amargosa Voles Begin to Repopulate Desert Habitat

by Kirsten Macintyre, CDFW
September 07, 2022

Environment/Wildlife

Seven years of carefully planned habitat restoration on private land in the Mojave Desert have yielded hope for the persistence of the endangered Amargosa vole.

Novel Coronaviruses Are Riskiest for Spillover

by Kat Kerlin
August 25, 2022

Scientists from the University of California, Davis created network-based models to prioritize novel and known viruses for their risk of zoonotic transmission, which is when infectious diseases pass between animals and humans.

COVID-19 in Animals: What to Fear and What to Learn

by IEEE Pulse
July 11, 2022

While COVID-19 has been racing through much of the human population, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has also turned up in other mammals. This leads to many questions.

Dr. Lisa Tell, professor of avian medicine at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, attempts to catch a hummingbird to record its size and fit it with a numbered band while working at the private residence of UC Davis Professor Emeritus Manfred Kusch.

California loves its hummingbirds. But climate dangers loom

by Tara Duggan, San Francisco Chronicle
June 23, 2022

Zooming from flower to flower in a flash of iridescent green and fuchsia pink, the Anna’s hummingbird seems to be one of California’s wildlife success stories. Native to Southern California, the tiny fliers are now common throughout the state and seen on snowy branches in Alaska and cacti in Arizona.

California Raptor Center Open House May 7

by Trina Wood
May 05, 2022

Environment/Wildlife

The California Raptor Center will be hosting its first in-person open house in nearly three years on Saturday May 7th from 9am-12pm.

Dr. Jamie Peyton working on mountain lion

Saving Our Wildlife

by Judy Farah
March 01, 2022

Environment/Wildlife

Comstock's magazine features the lifesaving work of the Wildlife Disaster Network.

Una vicuña solitaria en los pastizales de altura del Parque Nacional de San Guillermo, en Argentina, tras una epidemia de sarna.

Un brote de sarna diezmó una población de vicuñas en Argentina

by Kat Kerlin
January 21, 2022

Environment/Wildlife

Un brote de sarna ha diezmado la población de vicuñas y guanacos en un parque nacional argentino creado para su conservación, según un estudio de la Administración de Parques Nacionales de Argentina y la Universidad de California en Davis. Los resultados, publicados en la revista PLOS ONE, sugieren que un grupo de llamas introducidas en cercanías del parque podrían haber sido el origen del brote. Se esperan consecuencias para las especies depredadoras y carroñeras locales.

Resident Turkey Vultures Get New Exhibit at California Raptor Center

by Julie Cotton
November 22, 2021

Environment/Wildlife

The three resident turkey vultures at the California Raptor Center (CRC) got new digs this summer! Thanks to a generous grant from the McBeth Foundation, the center staff worked with the cage design company Corners Limited, Inc. to design an exhibit to house Juliet (28+ years old, wing injury) and Merry and Pippin (3-year-old siblings, human imprinted). The cage was installed in July 2021.

Chlamydia Infections Documented in Raptors

by Trina Wood
November 16, 2021

Environment/Wildlife

As colder weather arrives in California, UC Davis researchers urge wildlife rehabilitators and veterinary professionals working with raptors to take extra health precautions against a Chlamydia strain found in several species that might potentially cause serious disease in humans as well.

Crude Awakenings

by Kat Kerlin
November 08, 2021

Environment/Wildlife

Western snowy plovers, listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act and considered a “species of special concern” in California, were some of the animals rescued by OWCN wildlife responders during the Orange County oil spill.

Fungal Outbreak in Marine Mammals Began on Land

by Justin Cox
October 22, 2021

Environment/Wildlife

In the early 2000s, a fungus infected hundreds of animals and people in British Columbia and Washington State. Scientists found that the disease also killed porpoises and dolphins in the Salish Sea – perhaps affecting cetaceans even earlier than people.

Oiled Wildlife Care Network Comes Full Circle in Orange County

by Kat Kerlin
October 12, 2021

Responders with the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network, a program managed by UC Davis, continue to provide veterinary care for animals impacted by the Orange County oil spill.

Environment/Wildlife