scholarly journals Female Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros , chewing some nutritive vegetation in Telperion Nature Reserve, South Africa. Photograph reproduced by permission of Emmanuel Do Linh San.

Ethology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. i-i
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-901
Author(s):  
Rudzani A. Makhado ◽  
Basil J. Curlewis ◽  
Wilmien J. Luus‐Powell ◽  
Martin J. Potgieter

Author(s):  
Terence P. Scott ◽  
Eleanor Stylianides ◽  
Wanda Markotter ◽  
Louis Nel

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is a pestivirus that affects members of the order Artiodactyla, including members of the subfamily Bovinae. Little is known about the seroprevalence of BVDV in southern Africa, especially the prevalence in wild ruminant populations such as kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros). A handful of random surveys suggested that seroprevalence ranged between 6% and 70% in southern African wild ruminants. The present study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of BVDV amongst kudu and eland (Taurotragus oryx) from Namibia and South Africa. A BVDV-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed on 50 serum samples from kudu and eland from South Africa and Namibia. The seroprevalence of BVDV in South African kudu was 71%, identical to that in Namibian kudu. The seroprevalence in Namibian eland was 40%. The kudu and cattle farming (free ranging) regions in Namibia predominantly overlap in the central regions, ensuring ample opportunity for cross-species transmission of BVDV. It is therefore important to determine the true prevalence of BVDV in southern Africa in both domesticated and wild animals. In addition, a potential link between BVDV incidence and a devastating rabies epidemic in Namibian kudu was proposed and such a notion could be supported or discredited by comparative prevalence data.


Author(s):  
N.J. Smit ◽  
A.J. Davies

Developmental stages of a haemogregarine were found within polychromatocytes and erythrocytes in Giemsa-stained blood smears from six evileye pufferfish (Amblyrhynchotes honckenii) caught at Koppie Alleen in the De Hoop Nature Reserve, South Africa. This unusual haemogregarine, Haemogregarina (sensu lato) koppiensis sp. nov., was characterized by encapsulated gamonts with recurved tails, features more common in haemogregarines infecting amphibian and reptilian erythrocytes than in those from fish. Haemogregarina koppiensis is only the third species of fish haemogregarine to have been described from South Africa.


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