Mange in Yellowstone wolves reveals insights into human scabies and conservation biology
Liana Wait, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Jan. 25, 2021 9:30 a.m.
Before wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, they were vaccinated for common diseases and treated for any parasite infections they already carried. As a result, the first few generations of wolves were relatively disease-free, but over the years, various diseases have found their way into the population.
Both of these Yellowstone wolves display the hair loss and skin lesions associated with mange. By analyzing 25 years of wolf observations and genetic samples from 408 Yellowstone wolves, a Princeton-led research team found that genetics play a role in the severity of the mite-borne disease. They found support for the monoculture theory : wolves with severe mange, like the one on the left, tend to have less genetic variation than wolves with mild symptoms, as