A family of vicuas is going to rest in Argentina's San Guillermo National Park before the mange outbreak wiped out the local population. Hebe del Valle Ferreyra is a credit.
According to a study done by the Administration of National Parks in Argentina and the University of California, Davis, Mange has decimated the population of wild vicuas and guanacos in an Argentinian national park that was created to conserve them.
The findings suggest domestic llamas may have been the source of the outbreak. Cascading consequences are expected for predator and scavenger species.
The vicua is the national animal in Argentina, and other countries in the Americas.
The study looked at the origins and impacts of the outbreak.
The Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center's Latin America Program used to be called the Serengeti of the wild camelids. Whoever is there is mangy, now you go and it's empty. This disease is not new. We are aware of mange. It is a common mite. Several wildlife species around the world are experiencing significant outbreaks.
The home is on the mange.
The authors observed signs of sarcoptic mange in a quarter of living vicuas and a third of live guanacos.
There is a dead vicua in Argentina's San Guillermo National Park. Hebe del Valle Ferreyra is a credit.
In the five years before the start of the study, the populations of guanaco and vicua were 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- Between the two years, nearly three-quarters more were lost. Researchers couldn't find either animal during the surveys by 2019.
mites burrow under the animal's skin to cause sarcoptic mange, a disease that becomes thick, itchy and cracked. Many animals starve or become easy prey because it becomes too painful to move.
Mites from seven vicuas and three guanacos were collected and analyzed in the lab of co-author Janet Foley, a disease ecologist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. They found that the mites shared the same genetics, indicating a single source of the epidemic.
The authors traced a potential source to a governmental livestock incentive program that introduced llamas to areas near the park in 2009, some of which had mange, which is rarely fatal for llamas.
The authors couldn't compare the mites found on the vicuas and guanacos with the mites found on the llamas because they weren't available at the time of the study. The findings show that introducing llamas may have triggered the outbreak.
There are cascading consequences.
In many countries, wild vicuas provide a source of income for Indigenous communities who shear the live animals for their soft, valuable fiber. The balance of the altiplano is maintained by the animals. The population in South America is considered a success story, having rebounded once strict enforcement of the fiber trade and bans on lethal shearing were enacted in the 1980s.
There is a lone vicua in Argentina's San Guillermo National Park. Hebe del Valle Ferreyra is a credit.
While global populations of vicuas and guanacos are still considered healthy, the outbreak at San Guillermo is expected to bring cascading consequences for local predator and scavengers.
Mountain lions and condors feast on the carcasses of vicuas and guanacos. Unless and until wild camelid populations can rebound, the mountain lions may turn to local livestock for their meals. The risks of poisoning by pesticides or lead from hunting ammunition are dangers that corpors may have to search for outside the park.
"Hopefully, within a few years, the animals will return," Uhart said. We don't know what will happen with the scavengers because there is nothing left for them to eat.
One health approach is needed.
The authors note that better and ongoing communication between the two sectors might have prevented the outbreak.
The author said that several factors combined to create the perfect storm of the epidemic. The management of animal health should not be seen as incompatible with other activities. There is a need for a change of approach.
The other co-authors of the study are: Ana M. Martn of Universidad Catlica de Crdoba in Argentina, and Emiliano Donadio of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina.
The population of South American wild camelids has been decimated by the sarcoptic mange outbreak. There is a journal called the Journal ofpone.0256616.
The journal contains information about the PLoS ONE.
The mange outbreak decimated a wild vicua population in Argentina.
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