Environment/Wildlife

Melting Arctic Sea Ice Linked to Emergence of Deadly Virus in Marine Mammals

Scientists have linked the decline in Arctic sea ice to the emergence of a deadly virus that could threaten marine mammals in the North Pacific, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

Environment/Wildlife

Detection Dogs and DNA on the Trail of Endangered Lizards

Detection dogs trained to sniff out the scat of an endangered lizard in California’s San Joaquin Valley, combined with genetic species identification, could represent a new, noninvasive sampling technique for lizard conservation worldwide.

Environment/Wildlife

Scientists Identify Bombali Ebolavirus in Bats in Guinea

The sixth ebolavirus, Bombali virus, has been detected in insect-eating bats in Guinea. The discovery of Bombali virus first in insect-eating bats in Sierra Leone, and now in Guinea, marks the first time that scientists discovered a new ebolavirus species in a host before detection in an infected human or sick animal.

Environment/Wildlife

What's Killing Sea Otters?

UC Davis scientists have pinpointed specific strains of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii that are killing southern sea otters, tracing them back to a bobcat and feral domestic cats from nearby watersheds.

Environment/Wildlife

How Housecats Are (Indirectly) Killing Monk Seals

An article in Salon describes how scientists over the last couple decades have compiled evidence that cat feces, which often drains into the ocean in coastal cities, can infect Hawaiian monk seals with toxoplasmosis — a potentially fatal disease caused by a single-cell parasite.

Environment/Wildlife

Where on Earth Is the Salish Sea?

Less than half of the people in Washington and British Columbia have heard of the Salish Sea, even though they live alongside it.

Environment/Wildlife

Endangered White Abalone Program Yields Biggest Spawning Success Yet

The Bodega Marine Laboratory’s white abalone program has millions of new additions following its most successful spawning ever at the University of California, Davis, facility.

Environment/Wildlife

Life-Threatening Foot Disease Found in Endangered Huemul Deer in Chile

Scientists report the first cases of foot disease for endangered huemul deer in Chilean Patagonia in a study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of California, Davis’ One Health Institute, with partnering institutions in Chile and the United States. 

Environment/Wildlife

Local Extinction of Southern California Mountain Lions Possible Within 50 Years

Two isolated mountain lion populations in Southern California’s Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains are at risk of local extinction, perhaps as soon as within 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. 

Environment/Wildlife

Microbes Grow in Hummingbird Feeders But Do Not Likely Pose Health Hazard

Many people set up hummingbird feeders in their yards to nurture and watch these high-energy pollinators. But could the sugar water they provide be impacting these tiny feathered friends?

Environment/Wildlife

Endangered Wildlife Are Getting Dosed With Rat Poisons

Products marketed to kill rodents are instead threatening the lives of the wildlife that eat them as poisons travel up the food chain.

Environment/Wildlife

One Health for One Earth

In an increasingly crowded world where people and animals come into ever-closer contact, the lines that separate us – physical, biological, ecological, behavioral – are essentially gone. So, the future of conservation will be initiatives that address the entire ecosystem – a ‘One Health’ approach.

Environment/Wildlife

Sea Stars Imperiled by Wasting Disease Along West Coast

The combination of ocean warming and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America in just a few years, according to a study co-led by the University of California, Davis, and Cornell University published Jan. 30 in the journal Science Advances.

Environment/Wildlife

Individual Treatment for Ailing Orcas?

SeaDoc Society is a nonprofit born out of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It's trying to form a new medical database to diagnose and treat individual, ailing orcas. The project is being modeled after a personalized veterinary approach used on critically endangered mountain gorillas in Africa.

Environment/Wildlife

Tracking Hummingbird Interactions at Urban Feeders

Wildlife veterinarians at the Hummingbird Health and Conservation Program in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine recently published a study describing a new system to track hummingbirds visiting feeders in urban gardens. Feeder behavior offers clues about hummingbird health, and disease transmission.

Environment/Wildlife