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Pdfpen snow leopard12/3/2023 ![]() The outbreak, probably originating from domestic dogs ( Canis familiaris), claimed about 30% of the lion population and is one of the most cited examples of the potential impact that disease can have on felid populations ( 7). The detrimental effects that a disease outbreak can cause a felid population are well-exemplified by the canine distemper virus outbreak in Serengeti lions ( Panthera leo) in 1994. Reduced survival can also disrupt the social system, where the replacement of dominant males can result in infanticide of young, thus further reducing population numbers ( 4– 6). This applies to many large carnivore populations as they exhibit a low reproductive output, occur at low densities naturally, and populations are often further reduced and isolated as a consequence of habitat destruction, overexploitation of prey species, and human persecution ( 4). Even small changes in these parameters can substantially increase the extinction risk, for example, in species with slow reproduction or where populations are small ( 3). Infectious diseases can affect the abundance and distribution of animals by reducing survival and reproduction ( 1, 2). In animals which are under environmental stress, for example, young dispersing individuals and lactating females, health issues may be exacerbated by latent virus infections. Several of the viruses implicated in the present study could affect the health of snow leopards. The rectal swabs from all animals also showed evidence for the presence of small circular DNA viruses, predominantly Circular Rep-Encoding Single-Stranded (CRESS) DNA viruses and in one case feline anellovirus. In addition, the rectal swab from the same female also displayed sequence reads most similar to feline papillomavirus 2, which is the first evidence for this virus infecting snow leopards. A serum sample of a male and a rectal swab of a female snow leopard produced sequence reads identical or closely similar to felid herpesvirus 1, providing the first evidence that this virus infects snow leopards. Excluding one animal with overall very few sequence reads, four of six animals (67%) displayed evidence of rotavirus infection. The viral species to which the greatest number of sequences reads showed high similarity was rotavirus. ![]() In this work, next-generation sequencing is used to investigate the fecal (and in a few cases serum) virome of seven snow leopards from the Tost Mountains of Mongolia. It is important to investigate the microbes that snow leopards are exposed to detect infectious disease threats and define a baseline for future changes that may impact the health of this endangered felid. These living conditions likely affect the abundance and composition of microbes with the capacity to infect these animals. Snow leopards inhabit the cold, arid environments of the high mountains of South and Central Asia. 6Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.5Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, United States.4Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. ![]()
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