Characterisation of the Historic Demographic Decline of the British European Polecat Population.

The European polecat (Mustela putorius) has a widespread distribution across many countries of mainland Europe but is documented to be declining within these ranges. In Britain, direct persecution led to a severe decline of the polecat population during the 19th century. Unlike European mainland populations, it is now recovering across much of its former British range.

Ancient host-associated microbes obtained from mammoth remains.

Ancient genomic studies have extensively explored human-microbial interactions, yet research on non-human animals remains limited. In this study, we analyzed ancient microbial DNA from 483 mammoth remains spanning over 1 million years, including 440 newly sequenced and unpublished samples from a 1.1-million-year-old steppe mammoth.

Host Traits Impact the Outcome of Metagenomic Library Preparation From Dental Calculus Samples Across Diverse Mammals.

Dental calculus metagenomics has emerged as a valuable tool for studying the oral microbiomes of humans and a few select mammals. With increasing interest in wild animal microbiomes, it is important to understand how widely this material can be used across the mammalian tree of life, refine the related protocols and understand the expected outcomes and potential challenges of dental calculus sample processing. In this study, we significantly expand the breadth of studied host species, analysing laboratory and bioinformatics metadata of dental calculus samples from 32 ecologically and phylogenetically diverse mammals.

Stable isotope analysis of ectoparasites as a tool for understanding trophic interactions with mammalian hosts.

Climate change is expected to expand the geographic ranges of ectoparasites, increasing the transmission of vector-borne diseases and necessitating a better understanding of ectoparasite-host trophic dynamics. Haematophagous ectoparasites can serve as valuable subsamples of their hosts, retaining isotopic values that reflect dietary information in both their blood meals and tissues. However, differences in the life histories and feeding strategies of lice, fleas and ticks may influence how host isotopic composition is preserved.

Craniological differentiation amongst Southeast Asian small cats.

Nine small felid species, including the introduced domestic cat, inhabit Southeast Asia. We analysed their skull morphology, using 36 selected morphometric measurements of up to 465 specimens. Of the species examined, the fishing cat and the Asian golden cat were the largest, whilst the mainland and Sunda leopard cats were the smallest.