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1 January 2018 SURVEY OF GROSS AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC FINDINGS IN TWO WINTERING SUBPOPULATIONS OF SANDHILL CRANES (ANTIGONE CANADENSIS)
Martha Hensel, Miranda Bertram, Raquel Rech, Gabriel L. Hamer, Sarah A. Hamer
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
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Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis) of the midcontinent population (MCP) and Rocky Mountain population (RMP) are migratory game birds with stable populations that travel between Canada and the southern US and Mexico. In the winters of 2012–14, we performed gross and histologic examinations of 43 hunter-harvested Sandhill Cranes in Texas (MCP) and New Mexico (RMP) to assess the impact of disease on populations. Lesions were significantly more common in the MCP relative to the RMP, likely reflecting differential environmental exposure to pathogens and parasites. Grossly, liver nodules and esophageal granulomas were present in 8–39% of birds. In feces from over half of birds, we found coccidian oocysts with mitochondrial gene sequences identical to those of Eimeria gruis and Eimeria reichenowi previously obtained from sympatric Whooping Cranes (Grus americana). Over one-quarter of birds had liver and cardiac lesions suggestive of disseminated visceral coccidiosis. We documented proliferative colitis due to Cryptosporidium in a wild Sandhill Crane. Additionally, several endoparasites were found in histologic sections from several cranes, including a bird with respiratory trematodiasis and two birds with Tetrameres sp. in the proventriculus associated with ductal ectasia. In addition to describing lesions and parasites that impact Sandhill Crane health, these pathology data may also be relevant for the conservation of endangered Whooping Cranes using a surrogate species approach.

© Wildlife Disease Association 2018
Martha Hensel, Miranda Bertram, Raquel Rech, Gabriel L. Hamer, and Sarah A. Hamer "SURVEY OF GROSS AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC FINDINGS IN TWO WINTERING SUBPOPULATIONS OF SANDHILL CRANES (ANTIGONE CANADENSIS)," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 54(1), 156-160, (1 January 2018). https://doi.org/10.7589/2017-02-036
Received: 10 February 2017; Accepted: 28 June 2017; Published: 1 January 2018
KEYWORDS
Antigone canadensis
Eimeria
pathology
sandhill crane
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