A new subspecies of the European bison, Bison bonasus montanus ssp. nov. (Bovidae, Artiodactyla).
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From January through July of 2000, a study was conducted to evaluate clearance, immunologic responses, and potential shedding of Brucella abortus strain RB51 (SRB51) following ballistic or subcutaneous (SQ) vaccination of 7 mo old bison (Bison bison) calves. Ten bison calves were vaccinated SQ with 1.4 x 10(10) colony-forming units (CFU) of SRB51 and five calves were inoculated SQ with sterile 0.15 M sodium chloride. An additional 10 bison calves were ballistically inoculated in the rear leg musculature with 1 x 10(10) CFU of SRB51 and five calves were ballistically inoculated with an empty Biobullet. Serologic responses were monitored at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, and 24 wk using the standard tube agglutination test and a dot-blot assay. Swabs from rectal, vaginal, nasal, and ocular mucosal surfaces, and blood were obtained for culture from all bison at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks post-inoculation to evaluate potential shedding by vaccinated bison or persistent septicemia. The superficial cervical lymph node was biopsied in eight ballistic and eight hand vaccinated bison at 6 or 12 wk to evaluate clearance of the vaccine strain from lymphatic tissues. Lymphocyte proliferative responses to irradiated SRB51 bacteria were evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) at 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, and 24 wk after inoculation. Serum obtained from hand or ballistically vaccinated bison demonstrated antibody responses on the dot-blot assay that were greater than control bison (saline or empty Biobullet) at 2, 4, 6, and 8 wk after vaccination. Antibody titers of ballistically vaccinated bison did not differ (P > 0.05) from hand vaccinated bison at any sampling time. Blood samples obtained from all bison at 2, 4, 6 and 8 wk after vaccination were negative for SRB51. One colony of SRB51 was recovered from the vaginal swab of one ballistically vaccinated bison at 2 wk after vaccination. All other ocular, vaginal, nasal, and rectal swabs were culture negative for SRB51. Strain RB51 was recovered from superficial cervical lymph nodes of hand and ballistic vaccinated bison at 6 (two of four and two of four bison, respectively) and 12 wk (three of four and one of four bison, respectively). Serologic tests and bacterial culture techniques failed to demonstrate infection of nonvaccinated bison. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from hand vaccinated bison had greater (P < 0.05) proliferative responses to strain RB51 bacteria when compared to PBMC from nonvaccinated and ballistically vaccinated bison. Proliferative responses of PBMC from ballistically vaccinated bison did not differ (P > 0.05) at any sampling time from proliferative responses of PBMC from control bison. Serum alpha 1-acid glycoprotein concentrations, plasma fibrinogen, and total protein concentrations were not influenced by treatments. Ballistic delivery of SRB51 did not induce adverse effects or influence clearance of the vaccine strain. There were no proliferative responses of PBMC to SRB51 in bison ballistically vaccinated with SRB51; whereas bison inoculated with SRB51 by hand injection had greater proliferative responses than control or ballistically vaccinated bison. Our study suggests that ballistic delivery may require a greater dose of SRB51 to induce cell-mediated immune responses in bison that are comparable to those induced by hand injection, and that ballistic or hand delivery of 1 x 10(10) CFU of SRB51 is safe in bison calves.
The influence of winter recreation on wildlife in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming and Montana, USA, is a controversial issue. In particular, the effects of road grooming, done to facilitate snowmobile and snowcoach travel, on bison (Bison bison) ecology are under debate. We collected data during winters, from 1997 to 2005, on bison road use, off-road travel, and activity budgets to quantify temporal trends in the amount of bison road and off-road travel and to identify the ecological factors affecting bison movements and use of the groomed road system in the Madison-Gibbon-Firehole (MGF) area of YNP. Using model comparison techniques, we found bison travel patterns to be influenced by multiple, interacting effects. Road travel was negatively correlated with road grooming, and we found no evidence that bison preferentially used groomed roads during winter. Snow water equivalent, bison density, and the springtime melt period were positively correlated with both bison road and off-road travel. From behavioral scans on 68,791 bison, we found that travel is only a small percentage (11%) of all bison activity, with foraging comprising 67% of observations. Also, only 7% of traveling bison and 30% of foraging bison were displacing snow, and we suggest foraging, rather than traveling, is likely the major energetic cost to bison in winter. Bison utilize their own trail network, connecting foraging areas using stream corridors, geothermal pathways, and self-groomed travel routes. Our results indicate that temporal patterns in bison road travel are a manifestation of general travel behavior and that groomed roads in the MGF do not appear to be a major factor influencing bison ecology and spatial redistribution. We suggest that the changes in bison spatial dynamics during the past three decades have likely been the result of the natural phenomenon of density-dependent range expansion, rather than having been caused by the anthropogenic influence of road grooming.
The objective of this study was to compare fatty acid weight percentages and cholesterol concentrations of longissimus dorsi (LD), semitendinosus (ST), and supraspinatus (SS) muscles (n = 10 for each) of range bison (31 mo of age), feedlot-finished bison (18 mo of age), range beef cows (4 to 7 yr of age), feedlot steers (18 mo of age), free-ranging cow elk (3 to 5 yr of age), and chicken breast. Lipids were analyzed by capillary GLC. Total saturated fatty acids (SFA) were greater (P < 0.01) in range bison than in feedlot bison and were greater (P < 0.01) in SS of range beef cattle than in feedlot steers. Muscles of elk and range bison were similar (P > 0.05) in SAT. In LD, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were highest (P < 0.01) for elk and range bison and lowest (P < 0.01) for feedlot steers within each muscle. Range bison and range beef cows had greater (P < 0.01) PUFA in LD and ST than feedlot bison or steers, respectively. Range-fed animals had higher (P < 0.01) n-3 fatty acids than feedlot-fed animals or chicken breast. Chicken breast n-6 fatty acids were greater (P < 0.01) than for muscles from bison, beef, or elk. Elk had higher (P < 0.01) n-6 fatty acids than bison or beef cattle; however, range-fed animals had higher (P < 0.01) n-6 fatty acids than feedlot-fed animals in ST. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA, 18:2cis-9, trans-11) in LD was greatest (P < 0.01) for range beef cows (0.4%), and lowest for chicken breast and elk (mean = 0.1%). In ST, CLA was greatest (P < 0.01) for range and feedlot bison and range beef cows (mean = 0.4%) and lowest for elk and chicken breast (mean = 0.1%). Also, SS CLA was greatest (P < 0.01) for range beef cows (0.5%) and lowest for chicken breast (0.1%). Mean total fatty acid concentration (g/100 g tissue) for all muscles was highest (P < 0.01) for feedlot bison and feedlot cattle and lowest (P < 0.01) for range bison, range beef cows, elk, and chicken. Chicken breast cholesterol (mg/100 g tissue) was higher (P < 0.01) than LD and ST cholesterol, which were lowest (P < 0.01; 43.8) for range bison and intermediate for the other species. Cholesterol in SS was highest (P < 0.01) for feedlot bison and steers, which were similar to chicken breast (mean = 61.2 vs 52.8 for the mean of the other species). We conclude that lipid composition of bison muscle varies with feeding regimen, and range-fed bison had muscle lipid composition similar to that of forage-fed beef cows and wild elk.
Ruminal contents from 79 slaughtered bison and 2 ruminally cannulated bison were collected to obtain information on total numbers and species distribution of ciliated protozoa. The bison originated from numerous herds throughout the Great Plains and were grouped into three dietary categories: (i) only forage; (ii) forage with moderate levels of supplementation; and (iii) feedlot concentrate-silage diet. Total ciliate counts were highest in bison receiving grain supplementation (210.1 x 10(4)/g) and lowest in bison consuming only forage (27.1 x 10(4)/g). All protozoan species found in bison have been reported in domestic livestock, although Ophryoscolex sp., a relatively common protozoan in cattle, was detected at low concentrations in only eight bison. The uncommon holotrich Microcetus lappus was present in five bison in concentrations reaching 8.4% of the total ciliate population. Charonina ventriculi, another infrequently observed species, was present in 18 bison, with the highest concentrations in forage-fed animals. Thirty bison possessed a type B protozoan population, characterized by Epidinium sp., Eudiplodinium maggii, and Eudiplodinium bovis. Thirty-eight bison possessed a mixed A-B population, characterized by Polyplastron sp. coexisting with low numbers of Eudiplodinium maggii or Epidinium sp. or both. Thirteen bison possessed populations lacking any remnant type B ciliate species. At least 29 of the bison possessing Polyplastron sp. were known to have been in contact with cattle, whereas all bison isolated from cattle had type B populations. The reduction of type B populations in bison becomes increasingly likely as bison production expands into areas inhabited by domestic livestock.
Two groups of six, non-brucellosis vaccinated, brucellosis seronegative pregnant American bison (Bison bison) were individually challenged with 1 x 10(7) colony forming units (CFU) of Brucella abortus strain 2308. Three days after challenge, each bison group was placed in a common paddock with six non-vaccinated, brucellosis susceptible, pregnant domestic heifers. In a parallel study, two groups of six susceptible, pregnant cattle were simultaneously challenged with the identical dose as the bison and each group was placed with six susceptible cattle in order to compare bison to cattle transmission to that observed in cattle to cattle transmission. Blood samples were collected from bison and cattle weekly for at least 1 mo prior to exposure to B. abortus and for 180 days post-exposure (PE). Sera from the bison and cattle were evaluated by the Card, rivanol precipitation, standard plate agglutination, standard tube agglutination, cold complement fixation tube, warm complement fixation tube, buffered acidified plate antigen, rapid screening, bovine conjugated enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, bison or bovine conjugated enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and the hemolysis-in-gel techniques for the presence of antibodies to Brucella spp. At the termination of pregnancy by abortion or birth of a live-calf, quarter milk samples, vaginal swabs, and placenta were collected from the dam. Rectal swabs were collected from live calves, and mediastinal lymph nodes, abomasal contents and lung were taken at necropsy from aborted fetuses for culture of Brucella spp. These tissues and swabs were cultured on restrictive media for the isolation and identification of Brucella spp. Pathogenesis of brucellosis in bison was studied in an additional group of six pregnant bison which were challenged with 1 x 10(7) CFU of B. abortus strain 2308. One animal was euthanatized each week PE. Tissues were collected at necropsy and later examined bacteriologically and histologically. Lesions of brucellosis in bison did not significantly differ grossly or histologically from those in cattle. There were six abortions and two nonviable calves in the bison group, as compared to nine abortions in the 12 similarly inoculated cattle. As determined by bacterial isolations, transmission of B. abortus from bison to cattle (five of 12 susceptible cattle became infected) did not differ statistically from cattle to cattle transmission (six of 12 susceptible cattle became infected) under identical conditions. No single serologic test was constantly reliable to diagnosing B. abortus infected bison for 8 wk PE.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Protection against Brucella abortus induced abortion and infection provided by strain 19 (S19) vaccination was evaluated in American bison (Bison bison). Forty-eight pregnant bison were manually inoculated (MI) with S19 vaccine, 44 were ballistically inoculated (BI) with an absorbable hollow pellet containing lyophilized S19, and 46 were manually injected with buffered saline as non-vaccinated controls (NVC). All bison were Brucella spp. seronegative prior to the experiment, in the second trimester of pregnancy, and were randomly assigned to experimental groups. Approximately 60 days post-vaccination, abortions were observed in the vaccinated bison. Brucella abortus strain 19 was recovered from a bison that had recently aborted, her fetus, and from 11 of 12 other aborted fetuses. Fifty-eight percent (53 of 92) of vaccinated bison aborted, and no abortions were observed in the NVC bison. One cow aborted during her second post-vaccinal pregnancy and S19 was identified from the dam and fetus indicating that chronic S19 infections can occur in bison. Positive antibody titers were present 10 mo post-vaccination in 73% (66 of 91) of the bison. Thirteen mo post-vaccination, 30 MI vaccinates, 27 BI vaccinates, and 30 NVC bison were challenged during the second trimester of pregnancy with 1 x 10(7) CFU of B. abortus strain 2308 via bilateral conjunctival inoculation. Protection against abortion was 67% (P less than or equal to 0.0001) for vaccinated bison compared to 4% in NVC. Protection against B. abortus infection was determined to be 39% (P greater than or equal to 0.001) for vaccinates and 0% (zero of 30) for NCV. Persistent antibody titers, vaccine induced abortions, and chronic S19 infections indicate that the S19 vaccine doses used in this study are not suitable for pregnant bison.