Mercury in wild terrestrial carnivorous mammals from north-western Poland and unusual fish diet of red fox

Abstract

Total mercury concentrations were determined in the kidney (K), liver (L), and pectoral muscle (M) of 19 individuals representing wild carnivorous mammals from NW Poland: 10 red foxes Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758), 3 raccoon dogs Nyctereutes procyonoides Gray, 1834, 2 badgers Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758, 3 pine martens Martes martes Linnaeus, 1758, and 1 polecat Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758. The sample of red fox included 3 immature specimens found on Mielin Island; the island supports a black cormorant colony, and the foxes found there had fed mostly on cormorant nestlings as well as on fish and their remains. In addition to the Mielin Island foxes, the group of foxes included 3 other immature and 4 adult individuals. The highest mean of mercury concentrations were revealed in the Mielin red fox juveniles: 5.11, 4.52, and 1.56 mg/kg d.w. being recorded in K, L, and M. No significant differences in mercury concentrations in the respective tissues were found between the remaining immature and adult red foxes; their mercury concentrations were several times lower than those of the Mielin individuals. In all the animals except the Mielin foxes, mercury concentrations in K, L, and M did not exceed 1.3, 1.0 and 0.5 mg/kg d.w., respectively, the highest values being in badgers (which feed mostly on soil invertebrates), followed by pine martens and then the canids (red fox and raccoon dog). Studies on common and widely distributed terrestrial animals, particularly red fox and badger, may provide numerous valuable comparative data on mercury contamination of different areas of the northern hemisphere.