The captive plains zebra are characterised by a high incidence of male infanticide and feticide. One of the most common reasons why infanticide and feticide occur is the introduction of a new male into a herd. In the present study, we used twice as much data, including nine plains zebra herds from four Czech zoos, compared to our previous study on this topic. As a result, both of the statistical models that we tested were significant. The probability of the death of a foal was greatest when a new male was introduced into the herd just after conception. The probability of a foal to die in the presence of the new male was nearly 100% during the first two months of age and decreased as the foal aged. The foal’s probability to die, depending on the timing of the introduction of a new male or the foal’s age, was neither affected by the zoo nor the subspecies. In this paper, we also describe a fourth case of male feticide in plains zebra. Our results demonstrate the highest occurrence of infanticide and feticide among ungulates caused by males.
The objectives of the study were to estimate the inbreeding level in the population of captive bred Przewalski horses and its changes over time in the biggest conservation centers. The data of 2935 horses extracted from the Studbooks were considered. The average inbreeding coefficient was equal to 9.4%. In general, the inbreeding level decreased over the analyzed period. Average percentage of pedigree information was 40.2%.
Sarcocysts were found in muscle tissue of a wisent (Bison bonasus) which was born and kept in Germany. Light microscopic and ТЕМ examination revealed all the Ihrcc named species known from cattle: Sarcocystis cruzi („thin-walled“, with longer hairlike villar protrusions of the primary cyst wall); S. hirsuta („thick-walled“, with tongue-like protrusions of the cyst wall arising with very short and narrow stalklets from the surface of the cyst and containing rows of electron-dense granules in the core); and S. hominis („thick-walled“, with fmger-like protrusions of the cyst wall not constricted at their base and containing few or no electron-dense granules). So far, only S. cruzi was known to occur in Bison bison in North America. The findings in the wisent strikingly support a modified conception of the intermediate host specificity in Bovinae. In this connection the identity of S. cruzi and S. poephagicanis is suggested as well as that of S. hirsuta and S. poepliagi.