Lead poisoning of ducks in the lower Fraser valley of British Columbia : a chemical study ...

• Main Author: Malysheff, Andrew
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 1951
• Subjects: Anas acuta
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0106918; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0106918

Macroscopic examinations of ducks in a hunter kill sample for the presence of ingested lead shot pellets in the gizzards indicated that a slight increase in active lead poisoning since 1947, had taken place among mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and that a more severe increase had occurred in pintails (Anas acuta). Instances of proventriculii stuffed with food occurred only in conjunction with a diet of oats or wild seed. Quantitative analysis of bone and liver ash by means of a specially designed dithizone-chloroform method was carried out to determine lead contents and their significance. Analysis showed that a considerable number of ducks of both species, though proportionately more mallards than pintails were survivors of past contamination by lead and that, under normal conditions of weather and availability of food and perhaps other factors, the death toll attributable to plumbism should not equal the active leading percentages obtained by gizzard examination. Pintails appeared to suffer more, both in ...