Vol. 11, Special Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Madhvee Dhairykar, Amol Rokde, Somesh Singh and Aditya Mishra

Abstract:
Wild animals under natural condition are susceptible to almost all diseases as other animals, particularly parasitic infection. Parasites can affect animal survival and reproduction directly through pathological effect (blood loss, tissue and organ damage, abortion, congenital malformation and death) and indirectly by reducing the host immunity and affecting the physiological condition. The wild ruminants are natural prey base for wild carnivores. Parasites play a major role in the natural ecology of free ranging wild animals with effects ranging from negative impacts on host population size to the evolution of host behaviors to combat parasites. Parasitic prevalence is an important parameter to monitor the health of free-ranging wild herbivores. Future researches with advanced techniques are required to evaluate the impact of GI parasites in wild animals.