A LACK OF AVIAN AND MAMMALIAN HAEMATOZOA IN THE ANTARCTIC AND CANADIAN ARCTIC

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Laird, Marshall
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1961
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Prince of Wales Island; Ross Dependency; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z61-025; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z61-025

Blood films were obtained from 111 animals in New Zealand's Ross Dependency, and 165 on Prince of Wales Island, N.W.T. Most of them were from birds, and all proved negative for haematozoa although not because of any lack of susceptibility. An absence of vectors precludes local transmission in the areas sampled, and while wide-ranging migratory birds nesting in the Arctic could be exposed to infection elsewhere, many of them are normally protected from this hazard by ecological barriers.