{"id":124,"date":"2018-04-03T07:16:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T07:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dereklee.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=124"},"modified":"2019-03-02T13:30:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T13:30:40","slug":"giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/","title":{"rendered":"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"galleryImageBorder wsite-image alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org\/uploads\/5\/5\/7\/7\/5577192\/2527524.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"Picture\" \/>Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Masai_giraffe\">Masai giraffe<\/a> (<em>Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi<\/em>) the only subspecies in Tanzania.\u00a0Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease. Giraffe Skin Disease was first recorded 12 years ago in Ruaha National Park in central Tanzania. Since then, the disease has spread to parts of northern Tanzania, including <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tarangire_National_Park\">Tarangire<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Serengeti_National_Park\">Serengeti<\/a> National Parks. Very little was known about how many giraffes have this disease, and how it affected their survival. So, scientists with Wild Nature Institute estimated prevalence (% affected) in national parks and conservation areas throughout northern Tanzania. They also examined incidence (rate of spread among individuals), and mortality (difference in survival between affected and non-affected giraffe) in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tarangire_Ecosystem\">Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem<\/a>. Wild Nature Institute continues to share the knowledge gained from our research with local land managers, wildlife authorities, and community leaders so we can help develop and implement effective disease-mitigation strategies and prioritize the spending of scarce wildlife conservation dollars towards where they are needed most.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jwildlifedis.org\/doi\/abs\/10.7589\/2016-02-047\">Research from Wild Nature Institute scientists published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases<\/a> documented <strong>&#8216;Soil correlates and mortality from\u00a0Giraffe Skin Disease in Tanzania.&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong> This is the most recent step in ongoing investigations into this emerging disease. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org\/blog\/new-study-sheds-light-on-giraffe-skin-disease\">Previous work by Wild Nature Institute scientists found an interesting spatial pattern in the prevalence of the disease.\u00a0<\/a>The later results built on these earlier findings and found Giraffe Skin Disease was most prevalent on low fertility soils (as measured by cation exchange capacity or CEC, a common measurement of soil fertility). If parasites such as nematodes or tsetse flies are involved in Giraffe Skin Disease, differences in soil may influence the ground-dwelling life stages of these organisms. Soil characteristics may also impact the nutritional status of giraffes through vegetation quality, thus affecting their susceptibility to the disease.<\/p>\n<p>Giraffe Skin Disease was most prevalent on low fertility soils.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org\/uploads\/5\/5\/7\/7\/5577192\/bond-et-al-201gsd-fig_orig.png?w=1200\" alt=\"Graph of giraffe skin disease (GSD) prevalence relative to soil fertility measured as cation exchange capacity or CEC. Giraffe skin disease was most prevalent on low fertility soils. Wild Nature Institute\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We found no mortality effect of Giraffe Skin Disease in Tarangire National Park, animals with GSD lesions had the same survival rate as animals without lesions, indicating that currently Giraffe Skin Disease is unlikely to warrant immediate veterinary intervention in this park. Movement of infected giraffe remains an unexplored aspect of Giraffe Skin Disease effects, but limited mobility could lead to lower survival or reproduction if climate, habitat, or predation factors change from current conditions in Tarangire. Monitoring in Tarangire will continue to ensure early detection if Giraffe Skin Disease-afflicted animals begin to show signs of increased mortality or other negative effects.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smithsonian-institution\/how-tiny-worm-is-irritating-most-majestic-giraffes-180963260\/\">There is work underway<\/a> at the National Zoo and Tufts University to better understand the causative agent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) the only subspecies in Tanzania.\u00a0Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease. Giraffe Skin Disease was first &#8230; <a title=\"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,2,21,3],"tags":[5,6,7,23],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal","category-ecology","category-giraffe","category-wildlife-conservation","tag-animals","tag-giraffe","tag-wild-nature-institute","tag-wildlife-conservation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility - Derek Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) the only subspecies in Tanzania.\u00a0Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease. Giraffe Skin Disease was first ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Derek Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-03T07:16:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-02T13:30:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Derek Lee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Lee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Derek Lee\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41b42fba55c50c75d88b1a44c47d067c\"},\"headline\":\"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-03T07:16:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-02T13:30:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":458,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"animals\",\"giraffe\",\"wild nature institute\",\"wildlife conservation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"animal\",\"ecology\",\"giraffe\",\"wildlife conservation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/124\\\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\\\/\",\"name\":\"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility - 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Current research investigates Masai Giraffe and other large mammal populations within a fragmented landscape in Tanzania. This work examines how births, deaths, and movements of ungulates are impacted by increasingly fragmented wildlife habitat, and what conservation actions are most effective. He spent 10 years researching the impacts of climate and ocean conditions on survival, reproduction, and population growth rates of marine predators such as northern elephant seals, Common Murres, and Cassin's Auklets at the South Farallon Islands, California. His work was included in a conservation and management plan for seabirds in the California Current. He also studied migration of Black Brant in Humboldt Bay as well as fire ecology of small mammals in California's oak woodlands and California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/dereklee\\\/author\\\/dereklee\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility - Derek Lee","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility","og_description":"Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) the only subspecies in Tanzania.\u00a0Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease. 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Current research investigates Masai Giraffe and other large mammal populations within a fragmented landscape in Tanzania. This work examines how births, deaths, and movements of ungulates are impacted by increasingly fragmented wildlife habitat, and what conservation actions are most effective. He spent 10 years researching the impacts of climate and ocean conditions on survival, reproduction, and population growth rates of marine predators such as northern elephant seals, Common Murres, and Cassin's Auklets at the South Farallon Islands, California. His work was included in a conservation and management plan for seabirds in the California Current. He also studied migration of Black Brant in Humboldt Bay as well as fire ecology of small mammals in California's oak woodlands and California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/author\/dereklee\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNOJ-20","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/54\/its-been-a-fantastic-18-months-for-giraffe-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":0},"title":"It&#8217;s Been A Fantastic 18 Months For Giraffe Science","author":"Derek Lee","date":"May 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve had a fantastic 18 months of giraffe science publishing at the Wild Nature Institute, with 10 papers out in peer-reviewed scientific journals. These papers are all the product of our Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography Project, which is the largest individual-based study of giraffes in the world. 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A new study found wild giraffe spot pattern traits were heritable, passed down from mother to offspring, and certain spot traits improved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;animal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/INFORGRAPHICspots.jpg?fit=776%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":322,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/322\/giraffe-girl-gangs-are-important-to-giraffe-populations\/","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":3},"title":"Giraffe Girl Gangs are Important to Giraffe Populations","author":"Derek Lee","date":"April 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Female Masai giraffes live in distinct social communities of up to 90 other friends, and although areas used by these \u2018girl gangs\u2019 often overlap, they have very different rates of reproduction and calf survival. 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