Parasitic Diseases of Wild Mammals

Abstract

We are fortunate to share Canada with a splendid wildlife resource. At home, traveling, or on vacation, interactions with animals in the wild enhance our understanding of nature and our responsibilities to our ecosystem, enrich the landscape, and liberate our spirit. The past several decades have generated major developments in our knowledge of many aspects of the biology of wild animals, in particular factors that may affect wildlife health. Canadians have made many significant contributions to this progress. In 1971, John Davis and Roy Anderson edited Parasitic Diseases of Wild Mammals. Now, 30 years later, Bill Samuel, Margo Pybus, and Alan Kocan have assembled the “long overdue” 2nd edition. Read the preface, a stimulating overture, and you will know that this new book, like its predecessor, is a landmark in the literature of wildlife parasitology. The editors have selected authors who have written with great authority, clarity, and a generally uniform approach on arthropod, helminth, and protozoan parasites that meet carefully selected criteria: they cause disease in wild mammals, have the potential to cause disease, are of zoonotic importance; are “emerging” diseases, or are of particular public interest. Twenty-five groups of parasites are included. This book has many strengths. Perhaps the greatest is the thoroughness of the material presented. Each chapter is an excellent, comprehensive review, and almost all chapters include information summarized in clear and concise tables. Other strengths are the broad range of parasites included and the worldwide view, although there is perhaps a slight emphasis on North America. One caution! Obviously, this book does not include all wild mammals or all parasites of the hosts listed in the index, only those that meet the criteria mentioned above. Another strength, making the book attractive to a nonspecialist audience, is its freedom from complex parasitological and disease terminology. The book is well designed, clearly printed — other than some of the photographs — and strongly bound. The lists of literature cited are very helpful — other than the occasional missed reference — while the index, a good measure of user-friendliness, is exemplary in its detail. This book should be in the libraries of all those working in wildlife biology, parasitology, or veterinary medicine. It will serve as a valuable resource for those in the field, and in management agencies, in research and educational institutions, and for a variety of students. Any deficiencies do not compromise the book's great value. Although several authors refer to the population effects of selected parasites on their hosts, perhaps the next edition will contain a chapter focused on some of the recent observational, experimental, and theoretical studies that have pushed forward this intriguing and important area of wildlife parasitology. Such a chapter could serve as a useful overview of the principles underlying the relationships between wild animals, their parasites, and their population health. Also, as the world faces climate change, a chapter addressing the interface between this phenomenon and wildlife parasitic disease, even from a theoretical perspective, would have been timely. And what happened to a chapter on “pulmonary” lungworms? In summary, this book is effective on several levels. It is an excellent resource for people interested in wild mammals and their parasites, it is an exciting introduction for those entering the disciplines of wildlife biology or wildlife parasitology, and, perhaps inadvertently, it is an outstanding text on aspects of host-parasite biology. A book of a similar scope and standard on parasites of domestic animals would be a challenge, but surely it would be widely attractive.