PREVALENCE OF ENDOPARASITES IN ASIAN ELEPHANTS (Elephas maximus indicus) OF SOUTH WAYANAD FOREST DIVISION, KERALA
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Date
2017
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COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES, POOKODE WAYANAD
Abstract
The prevalence of endoparasites in Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus)
was studied in South Wayanad Forest Division from March to August, 2017. Fresh
elephant dung samples (n=55) were screened for identification and quantification of
endoparasites by centrifugal sedimentation–floatation method. The prevalence of
parasite was 74.5 per cent and mean total parasite load ranged between 128.6/epg and
1757.1/epg across different samples. Endoparasites classed as nematode and cestodes
were identified. Strongyles, strongyloides sp., anoplocephala sp., and ancylostoma sp.,
were the major parasites recorded from the samples. Strongyloids sp. And strongyle
type egg were recorded to be the most prevalent parasites with 58.1 per cent samples
testing positive. Mixed parasitic species infections in South Wayanad may be
associated with the free movement of elephants between landscapes. The frequency
distribution of parasitic load in individual elephants, samples from outer surface and
inner region of dung showed skewed distribution of propagules. Centrifugal
sedimentation and floatation method of fecal examiantion of outer surface and inner
region of dung did not show significant difference in number of propagules. The
highest number of parasitic propagules were recorded with floatation method when
compared with sedimentation method. Flotation method appeared to enhance the
detectability of propagules. The number of propagules varied among different herd
dung samples collected from different localities. There were no relation between the
parasitic load and age of elephants. The mean density of parasite eggs was higher in the
individual animals (214.3 155.4 epg) than herd elephants (147.78 111.1 epg).
Though parasitic load was higher in males based on occurrence of parasites using
logistic regression it was found that females are 1.83 times higher occurrence for
parasitic infection than males. The other variables such as place of collection, age-sex
classes were not statistically significant. The parasite egg size classes were used to
classify the parasitic egg into different taxonomic groups using discriminate function
analysis (DFA). Three distinct size clusters were identified. Nematode and cestode
eggs were classified correctly with 95.7%. Whereas, the egg size was similar within
nematode group and separation into genus was difficult. Further, inclusion of stages of
development of egg and larval stages could enable the better separation.
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