Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the host status of African buffaloes, Syncerus caffer, for the one-host tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus. To this end the R. (B.) decoloratus burdens of ten buffaloes examined in three north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN) nature reserves were compared with those of medium-sized to large antelope species in these reserves and in the southern Kruger National Park (KNP), Mpumalanga Province. The R. (B.) decoloratus burdens of the buffaloes were considerably smaller than those of the antelopes in the KNP, but not those in the KZN reserves. The life-stage structure of the R. (B.) decoloratus populations on the buffaloes, in which larvae predominated, was closer to that of this tick on blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus, a tick-resistant animal, than to that on other antelopes. A single buffalo examined in the KNP was not infested with R. (B.) decoloratus, whereas a giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis, examined at the same locality and time, harboured a small number of ticks. In a nature reserve in Mpumalanga Province adjacent to the KNP, two immobilized buffaloes, from which only adult ticks were collected, were not infested with R. (B.) decoloratus, whereas greater kudus, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, examined during the same time of year in the KNP harboured large numbers of adult ticks of this species. African buffaloes would thus appear to be resistant to infestation with R. (B.) decoloratus, and this resistance is expressed as the prevention of the majority of tick larvae from developing to nymphs.
Highlights
African buffaloes, Syncerus caffer, are large bovids that prefer savanna-type habitats and require a plen-Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, and Division of Parasitology, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort, 0110 South AfricaDepartment of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa
Accepted for publication 5 April 2006—Editor tiful supply of grass, shade and water for optimal survival. They occur in herds, which increase in size in the dry season, but decrease during the wet season because of the usual abundance of both food and water (Skinner & Smithers 1990). Large numbers of these animals are present in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in north-eastern Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, and in the Umfolozi and Hluhluwe Nature Reserves in the north-eastern regions of KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), with smaller populations in national, provincial and privately owned reserves or in buffalo breeding projects in these and most other provinces of South Africa
The ticks recovered from all the buffaloes were identified and counted. Their burdens of R. (B.) decoloratus are compared with those of medium-sized and large antelopes processed in the same way, namely impalas, Aepyceros melampus, greater kudus, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, and blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus, in the KNP, and nyalas, Tragelaphus angasii, in the north-eastern KZN nature reserves (Horak, De Vos & Brown 1983b; Horak et al 1992; Horak, Boomker & Flamand 1995; Horak, Gallivan, Braack, Boomker & De Vos 2003)
Summary
Syncerus caffer, are large bovids that prefer savanna-type habitats and require a plen-. Accepted for publication 5 April 2006—Editor tiful supply of grass, shade and water for optimal survival They occur in herds, which increase in size in the dry season, but decrease during the wet season because of the usual abundance of both food and water (Skinner & Smithers 1990). Large numbers of these animals are present in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in north-eastern Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, and in the Umfolozi and Hluhluwe Nature Reserves (recently combined to form the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park) in the north-eastern regions of KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), with smaller populations in national, provincial and privately owned reserves or in buffalo breeding projects in these and most other provinces of South Africa
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