Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Wildlife Disease

Much of the interest in disease ecology and wildlife health has been prompted by the emergence, or resurgence, of parasites that move between livestock, wildlife, and/or humans. Almost 75% of all emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic and many livestock disease issues are associated with repeated introductions from wildlife species. However, parasites are also passed in the other direction from domestic hosts to wildlife hosts and these parasites may affect the long-term conservation of wildlife species. Unprecedented human population abundance and distribution combined with anthropogenic environmental change has resulted in dramatic increases in human-animal contact, thus increasing the intimate linkages between animal and human health. NOROCK scientists collaborate with a number of partners to work on some of the most pressing wildlife health issues in the Rocky Mountains.
Filter Total Items: 17

Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat Research in Western National Park Units

Mountain goat and bighorn sheep are iconic symbols of many national lands in the West. Both species have limited distributions that can be difficult to observe and face multiple stressors including disease, increasing recreation in remote areas, and shifting weather regimes that influence their forage and thermoregulation. As species with relatively small population sizes, understanding...
link

Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat Research in Western National Park Units

Mountain goat and bighorn sheep are iconic symbols of many national lands in the West. Both species have limited distributions that can be difficult to observe and face multiple stressors including disease, increasing recreation in remote areas, and shifting weather regimes that influence their forage and thermoregulation. As species with relatively small population sizes, understanding...
Learn More

Evaluating Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Environment

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal disease of deer, elk, and moose and has been spreading in North America for the past two decades. The disease is spread by infected body fluids. Animals can become infected by coming into direct contact with a CWD-infected animal, or an infected animal can leave behind fluids (e.g., saliva, urine) that an uninfected animal will come into contact later...
link

Evaluating Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Environment

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal disease of deer, elk, and moose and has been spreading in North America for the past two decades. The disease is spread by infected body fluids. Animals can become infected by coming into direct contact with a CWD-infected animal, or an infected animal can leave behind fluids (e.g., saliva, urine) that an uninfected animal will come into contact later...
Learn More

Developing Tools to Evaluate Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission Risk

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) infects and kills ungulates (deer, elk, moose), and has been spreading across North America for the past 20 years. Some ungulate populations have declined because of CWD and there are no viable vaccines or treatments for this disease. Therefore, tools that assist wildlife managers in preventing and mitigating CWD can be powerful assets in protecting our nation’s big...
link

Developing Tools to Evaluate Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission Risk

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) infects and kills ungulates (deer, elk, moose), and has been spreading across North America for the past 20 years. Some ungulate populations have declined because of CWD and there are no viable vaccines or treatments for this disease. Therefore, tools that assist wildlife managers in preventing and mitigating CWD can be powerful assets in protecting our nation’s big...
Learn More

USGS Chronic Wasting Disease Research at NOROCK

Over the past 20 years, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wyoming has been spreading slowly outward from the southeastern corner of the state toward the Greater Yellowstone Area and Wyoming's elk feed grounds, where more than 24,000 elk are supplementally fed each winter.
link

USGS Chronic Wasting Disease Research at NOROCK

Over the past 20 years, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wyoming has been spreading slowly outward from the southeastern corner of the state toward the Greater Yellowstone Area and Wyoming's elk feed grounds, where more than 24,000 elk are supplementally fed each winter.
Learn More

Quantitative Disease Ecology

Researchers at the USGS are working on developing new quantitative methods to study disease dynamics in wildlife systems as well as systems at the wildlife-domestic-human interface. Much of our work focuses on how host population structure affects disease invasion, persistence and control in wildlife disease systems. We tackle these issues with a combination of simulation and statistical modeling...
link

Quantitative Disease Ecology

Researchers at the USGS are working on developing new quantitative methods to study disease dynamics in wildlife systems as well as systems at the wildlife-domestic-human interface. Much of our work focuses on how host population structure affects disease invasion, persistence and control in wildlife disease systems. We tackle these issues with a combination of simulation and statistical modeling...
Learn More

Developing online integrated data visualization tools for WNS and NABat

Bat Research Research collaboration: Brian Reichert (FORT), Anne Ballmann (NWHC), Jeremy Coleman (USFWS), Paul Cryan (FORT), Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC), and Katherine Irvine (NOROCK) White-nose syndrome is caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which has decimated hibernating bat populations across North America since it emerged 10 years ago in New York. While diagnostic...
link

Developing online integrated data visualization tools for WNS and NABat

Bat Research Research collaboration: Brian Reichert (FORT), Anne Ballmann (NWHC), Jeremy Coleman (USFWS), Paul Cryan (FORT), Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC), and Katherine Irvine (NOROCK) White-nose syndrome is caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which has decimated hibernating bat populations across North America since it emerged 10 years ago in New York. While diagnostic...
Learn More

Using Robots in the River: Biosurveillance at USGS streamgages

For more than a decade, researchers around the world have shown that sampling a water body and analyzing for DNA (a method known as eDNA) is an effective method to detect an organism in the water. The challenge is that finding organisms that are not very abundant requires a lot of samples to locate this needle in a haystack. Enter the "lab in a can", the water quality sampling and processing robot...
link

Using Robots in the River: Biosurveillance at USGS streamgages

For more than a decade, researchers around the world have shown that sampling a water body and analyzing for DNA (a method known as eDNA) is an effective method to detect an organism in the water. The challenge is that finding organisms that are not very abundant requires a lot of samples to locate this needle in a haystack. Enter the "lab in a can", the water quality sampling and processing robot...
Learn More

Impacts of Disease on Wolves in Yellowstone National Park

In 1995 and 1996, wolves were reintroduced into the Northern Rockies where they have since established and spread. Within Yellowstone National Park, one of the core protected release sites, the unmanaged population steadily increased to high densities, producing a large wolf population susceptible to infections such as canine parvovirus (CPV), canine distemper virus (CDV) and sarcoptic mange.
link

Impacts of Disease on Wolves in Yellowstone National Park

In 1995 and 1996, wolves were reintroduced into the Northern Rockies where they have since established and spread. Within Yellowstone National Park, one of the core protected release sites, the unmanaged population steadily increased to high densities, producing a large wolf population susceptible to infections such as canine parvovirus (CPV), canine distemper virus (CDV) and sarcoptic mange.
Learn More

Pneumonia in Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn sheep populations are often impacted by outbreaks of pneumonia that are suspected to come from domestic sheep and goats.
link

Pneumonia in Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn sheep populations are often impacted by outbreaks of pneumonia that are suspected to come from domestic sheep and goats.
Learn More

Brucellosis

Brucellosis is a nationally and internationally regulated disease of livestock with significant consequences for animal health, public health, and international trade.
link

Brucellosis

Brucellosis is a nationally and internationally regulated disease of livestock with significant consequences for animal health, public health, and international trade.
Learn More

NOROCK Large Carnivore Research Program

NOROCK has substantial expertise in large carnivore research, primarily involving species listed as Threatened or Endangered. NOROCK’s Large Carnivore Research Program includes scientists from NOROCK’s Headquarters, West Glacier Field Station, and the Southern Appalachian Field Station. Studies are conducted in a wide variety of landscapes throughout the U.S., as well as international research...
link

NOROCK Large Carnivore Research Program

NOROCK has substantial expertise in large carnivore research, primarily involving species listed as Threatened or Endangered. NOROCK’s Large Carnivore Research Program includes scientists from NOROCK’s Headquarters, West Glacier Field Station, and the Southern Appalachian Field Station. Studies are conducted in a wide variety of landscapes throughout the U.S., as well as international research...
Learn More

Seasonal Movement of Wild Hogs in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The wild hog (Sus scrofa) is an exotic invasive species that significantly impacts native resources and their populations are expanding significantly throughout the United States. In addition, wild hogs are likely contributing to the spread of disease such as pseudorabies. National Park Service units in the Southeast that have populations of exotic wild hogs include Big South Fork National River...
link

Seasonal Movement of Wild Hogs in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The wild hog (Sus scrofa) is an exotic invasive species that significantly impacts native resources and their populations are expanding significantly throughout the United States. In addition, wild hogs are likely contributing to the spread of disease such as pseudorabies. National Park Service units in the Southeast that have populations of exotic wild hogs include Big South Fork National River...
Learn More
Was this page helpful?