Search

Tool use, the manipulation of one object to change the state of another, is found in <1% of animal taxa and most often observed in captivity. Here, we report the observation of tentative tool use in a wild striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), captured by a trail camera in the front yard of a hobby naturalist who shared the photographs on social media. The skunk is shown manipulating a rock in a manner that strongly suggests the goal of breaking the frozen surface of a water bowl to drink. Skunks join other carnivores that innovated tool use and proto-tool use in the context of extractive foraging. Their versatile dexterity and manipulative foraging, likely facilitated by their large relative brain size, provide the ideal context for the innovation of novel foraging techniques. We therefore hypothesize that tool use will be observed in other members of the skunk family (Mephitidae), particularly as the broad availability of trail cameras, and the rapid dissemination of interesting observations via social media will increase the discovery rate of rare natural history phenomena. We encourage our colleagues to strengthen this pipeline to discovery, which reverses the information flow of community science projects, to bring amateur and professional naturalists closer together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed phylogeographic patterns in the western spotted skunk, Spilogale gracilis Merriam, 1890 (Carnivora: Mephitidae) in relation to historical events associated with Pre-Pleistocene Divergence (PPD) and Quaternary climate change (QCC) using mitochondrial DNA from 97 individuals distributed across Western North America. Divergence times were generated using BEAST to estimate when isolation in putative refugia occurred. Patterns and timing of demographic expansion was performed using Bayesian skyline plot. Putative climatic refugia resulting from Quaternary climate change were identified using paleoecological niche modeling and divergence dates compared to major vicariant events associated with Pre-Pleistocene conditions. We recovered three major mitochondrial clades corresponding to western North America (California, Baja, and across the Great Basin), east-central North America (Texas, central Mexico, New Mexico), and southwestern Arizona/northwestern Mexico. Time to most recent common ancestor for S. gracilis occurred ~1.36 Ma. Divergence times for each major clade occurred between 0.25 and 0.12 Ma, with signature of population expansion occurring 0.15 and 0.10 Ma. Ecological niche models identified three potential climatic refugia during the Last Interglacial, (1) west coast of California and Oregon, (2) northwestern Mexico, and (3) southern Texas/northeastern Mexico as well as two refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, (1) western USA and (2) southern Texas/northeastern Mexico. This study supports PPD in shaping species-level diversity compared to QCC-driven changes at the intraspecific level for Spilogale, similar to the patterns reported for other small mammals (e.g., rodents and bats). Phylogeographic patterns also appear to have been shaped by both habitat and river vicariance, especially across the desert southwest. Further, continuing climate change during the Holocene coupled with anthropogenic modifications during the Anthropocene appears to be removing both of these barriers to current dispersal of western spotted skunks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prehensile-tailed porcupines ( Coendou prehensilis), like other rodents, lack external sexual traits, making it difficult to non-invasively determine their gender. By exploiting genetic differences between the X and the Y chromosome, we developed a simple genetic test to determine the gender of Coendous from shed quills. We Sanger sequenced a short portion (195 bp) of the zinc finger protein gene of known male (XY) Coendous to identify positions that are polymorphic between the X and Y chromosomes at this locus. By directly sequencing this fragment, we were able to correctly determine (confirmed via anatomical sexing) the gender of male and female Coendous by the presences or absence of polymorphisms in the resulting chromatograms. This assay is simple, quick and is applicable to other porcupine species. Zoo Biol. 32:463-466, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choclo virus (CHOV) was described in sigmodontine rodents, Oligoryzomys fulvescens, and humans during an outbreak of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in 1999-2000 in western Panama. Although HCPS is rare, hantavirus-specific serum antibody prevalence among the general population is high suggesting that CHOV may cause many mild or asymptomatic infections. The goals of this study were to confirm the role of CHOV in HCPS and in the frequently detected serum antibody and to establish the phylogenetic relationship with other New World hantaviruses. CHOV was cultured to facilitate the sequencing of the small (S) and medium (M) segments and to perform CHOV-specific serum neutralization antibody assays. Sequences of the S and M segments found a close relationship to other Oligoryzomys-borne hantaviruses in the Americas, highly conserved terminal nucleotides, and no evidence for recombination events. The maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses of complete M segment nucleotide sequences indicate a close relationship to Maporal and Laguna Negra viruses, found at the base of the South American clade. In a focus neutralization assay acute and convalescent sera from six Panamanian HCPS patients neutralized CHOV in dilutions from 1:200 to 1:6,400. In a sample of antibody-positive adults without a history of HCPS, 9 of 10 sera neutralized CHOV in dilutions ranging from 1:100 to 1:6,400. Although cross-neutralization with other sympatric hantaviruses not yet associated with human disease is possible, CHOV appears to be the causal agent for most of the mild or asymptomatic hantavirus infections, as well as HCPS, in Panama. J. Med. Virol. 82:1586-1593, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci primers developed for striped skunks ( Mephitis mephitis), a widespread mesocarnivore in North America. Numbers of alleles in these loci ranged from seven to 14 and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.76 to 1.0. These primers will be useful for studying population dynamics of skunks where rabies is endemic and will be useful to estimate genetic relatedness among females sharing winter dens. Most of these primers amplify across species within the Mephitidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]