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Information from carcasses and other biological
materials
from the wild;
necropsy and sample collection methods for loris
and
potto conservation,
Compiler: Helga Schulze; coauthors (in alphabetical order): Colin
Groves;
Anna Nekaris; Kathrin Petry, Roland Plesker; Christian Roos,
Heinz-Adolf
Schoon, Ulrike Streicher. Other contributions: see references.
Introduction
Carcasses of animals, faeces and other biological material found
in
the wild may be very useful for obtaining data about wild
populations.
The importance of information about diseases is self-understood.
Carcasses
of animals healthy when killed, such as road kills or victims of
poachers,
may provide valuable information about normal, healthy tissues
(Wobeser,
Spraker 1980). Besides, information and materials not related to
diseases,
but useful for other research may be obtained.
It can no longer be regarded as ethical to kill threatened wild
animals
for research or for obtaining specimens for collections. Carcasses
found
or confiscated may serve as a better source of material for
reference collections.
Therefore, before a necropsy is done, initial careful
consideration will
be necessary which parts have to be damaged or destroyed for
detection
of disease, and which should rather be preserved for some other
purpose.
Such parts may for instance be skins, skeletal material for
taxonomic reference
collections or the preserved alimentary tract together with its
content
for nutritional analysis, se also sampling recommendations for
reference
collections (one of us: A. Nekaris; see also Groves, 2002 in
press)
The usefulness of collected data and specimens largely depends on
adequate
collection methods, recording, labelling and preservation.
Different preservation
methods are necessary, dependant on the kind of material and data
needed.
This chapter tries to provide all necessary information to get a
maximum
amount of information from carcasses and other materials, allowing
better
protection of populations and maybe their habitats.
In cases of possible epidemics or zoonoses, it will of course be
necessary
to consider all necessary measures and legal requirements to
assure that
no dangerous infectious agent is spread into other regions by
collected
items (one of us: K. Petry).
|
In:
Loris and potto conservation database: field
methods
http://www.species.net/primates/loris. |
Last
amendment: 7 November 2002
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