Little is known about the in-water behavior and site fidelity of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii), as most photo-identification (photo-ID) studies are typically conducted while they are hauled-out on land. We investigated in-water site fidelit...
Spotted seals (Phoca largha) exhibit an unusual ecological feature within the population of Peter the Great Bay (PGB). Following the breeding and molting seasons, one group performs long-distance foraging migrations, whereas another group remains in...
For the last 13 years, the fur industry in Europe has suffered from epidemic spouts of a severe necrotizing pyoderma. It affects all species currently farmed for fur and causes animal welfare problems and significant losses to the farmers. The causat...
In human and veterinary therapeutics, approximately 3000 different drugs are used and prescribed in high quantities. [...]
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of formulated diets on the composition and function of the gut microbiota in captive spotted seals. Six healthy spotted seals were selected and a self-controlled pre- and post-controlled design was adopted. Th...
Point of care (POC) hematology testing can be valuable in triage and field settings. We assessed the accuracy between the HemoCue® WBC system and two comparative analyzers, as well as the precision of the HemoCue® WBC system in five different...
The zoonotic Orthoflavivirus Usutu virus (USUV) is distributed throughout Germany, putting hosts at a considerable risk of infection nationwide. Besides birds as reservoir hosts, a broad range of accidental hosts is suspected. However, there are few...
Congenital hearing loss is recognized in humans and other terrestrial species. However, there is a lack of information on its prevalence or pathophysiology in pinnipeds. It is important to have baseline knowledge on marine mammal malformations in the...
The spotted seal (Phoca largha), the only pinniped species capable of natural breeding in Chinese waters, serves as a flagship species for the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea marine ecosystems. Changes in its population numbers are an important indicato...
The spotted seal (Phoca largha) is an ice-associated pinniped in the Northwest Pacific and is a subject of conservation concern under increasing environmental and anthropogenic pressures; however, genomic studies have been constrained by the absence...
The spotted seal (Phoca largha) is a flagship species and natural monument inhabiting Korean coastal waters. Due to its conservation importance and the rarity of carcass discoveries, determining the cause of death of each individual is critical. A ju...
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The determination of changes in gene expression profiles with xenobiotic dose will allow identifying biomarkers and modes of toxicant action. The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) 11B7501 B lymphoma cell line was exposed to 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, or 25...
This study introduces a hierarchical dual-model detection framework for accurately monitoring spotted seals (Phoca largha) in the Liaohe River estuary by using deep learning on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). To address challenges such as weak targe...
The spotted seal (Phoca largha), a Class I Protected Species in China, relies on Liaodong Bay as its primary breeding habitat in China. In field surveys conducted within the ice-covered zones of Liaodong Bay during January-February 2025, we recorded...
The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the world’s most widely distributed pinniped species ranging from temperate to Arctic regions (30–78.5° N in the Atlantic, 28–61.2° N in the Pacific), but no detailed overview of the spec...
We quantified how exhibit design and routine management shape behavior and space use in captive harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). Using a species-specific ethogram, scan sampling and focal follows on adult females housed in a modern zoo exhibit, we esti...
The assessment of animal welfare in rehabilitation settings is a critical aspect of effective care, yet typical metrics often fail to fully capture rehabilitating animals’ emotional experiences in a non-invasive way. Anticipatory behavior has e...
Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are the most common pinniped species in the Wadden Sea of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Lower Saxony, Germany. Their numbers have recovered after significant depletion due to viral outbreaks and effects of anthropogen...
Harbor seals commute between haul-out places and feeding grounds close to the shore or in the open ocean, which is considered a low structured environment, at first sight not providing many cues for orientation/navigation. Nevertheless, seals are wel...
Although harbour seals have often bred successfully in captivity, there is little information on the behaviour and welfare of captive mothers and their pups. This study used video of a mother with her newborn pup (P1) during the first 16 days post-pa...
The level of knowledge on microplastic exposure in marine mammals is limited by the access to dead and alive individuals. Focusing on the Northeast Atlantic area, some studies already confirmed the microplastic presence in free-ranging marine mammals...
Juvenile grey seals are known to be highly social, interacting with contact behaviours interpreted as gentle play. However, minimal sociality of pups with their mothers and among weaned pups has been suggested. The present study aimed to observe the...
Harbour and grey seals rely on acoustic signals to mate, socialise and defend their territory. Previous studies have focused on their behaviour, movements and communication from the coast, leaving a knowledge gap in the offshore environments, and the...
The Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, has a wide host range, extending from pigs and ardeid birds to opportunistic dead-end hosts, such as humans and horses. However, JEV encephalitis infections in aquatic mammals are ra...
Pinnipedia karyotype evolution was studied here using human, domestic dog, and stone marten whole-chromosome painting probes to obtain comparative chromosome maps among species of Odobenidae (Odobenus rosmarus), Phocidae (Phoca vitulina, Phoca largha...
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In recent decades, the amount of marine debris has increased in our oceans. As wildlife interactions with debris increase, so does the number of entangled animals, impairing normal behavior and potentially affecting the survival of these individuals....
In this study we focus on the ophiuroid species associated with cold-water corals south of Iceland. The specimens were sampled with the ROV Phoca (GEOMAR) in three different areas, during the recent expedition MSM75 connected to the IceAGE_RR (Icelan...
Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) have excellent perception of water disturbances and can still sense targets as far as 180 m away, even when they lose their vision and hearing. This exceptional capability is attributed to the undulating structure of its...
Reference intervals for clinical chemistry blood parameters are valuable for both individual diagnostics for animals in managed or veterinary care, and for evaluating wild population health. However, for marine mammals obtaining sufficient data from...
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to reduce the marine debris burden in the marine environment by 2020. This requires an assessment of the actual situation, which includes the occurrence as well as the caused impacts. Information on...
Local adaptation has been increasingly involved in the designation of species conservation strategies to response to climate change. Marine mammals, as apex predators, are climatechange sensitive, and their spatial distribution and conservation requi...
The pervasive use of antibiotics in human medicine, veterinary medicine, and agriculture can result in a significant increase in the spread and environmental persistence of antibiotic resistance in marine ecosystems. This study describes the presence...
E. coli was isolated from the Salish Sea (Puget Sound) ecosystem, including samples of marine and fresh water, and wildlife dependent on this environment. E. coli isolates were assessed for phenotypic and genotypic resistance to antibiotics. A total...
Pestiviruses are widespread pathogens causing severe acute and chronic diseases among terrestrial mammals. Recently, Phocoena pestivirus (PhoPeV) was described in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) of the North Sea, expanding the host range to mar...
Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are part of the Norwegian coastal ecosystem and can be observed on skerries, islands, and sandbanks along the coastline, sometimes in close proximity to inhabited areas. In this study, we used time-lapse camera surveys...
Rabies is an acute, progressive, viral encephalitis. Warm-blooded vertebrates are susceptible. Major reservoirs reside in the Chiroptera and Carnivora. Among the latter, representatives include dogs, ferret badgers, foxes, jackals, mongooses, raccoon...