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Credit NPS/Jim Peaco
Yellowstone s gray wolf population was reintroduced in 1995. Those first 35 wolves were given vaccinations and treated for parasites to give them a better chance of survival. Since then, the packs have slowly come into contact with different diseases and parasites. In 2007, the first case of mange was reported in Yellowstone s wolves and they ve been dealing with it ever since.
Finding A Common Link
Mange is a fairly common mammalian disease caused by mites that results in itchy skin and can lead to hair loss from incessant scratching, as well as weight loss, secondary infections, and even death. But each animal deals with the disease in its own way, which led researchers to search for a commonality between wolves that beat the disease relatively easily.
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