Frances M. D. Gulland

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is classified by the IUCN as "endan-gered," with a global population estimated to number fewer than 800 individuals. Our understanding of the biology and health status of the species is still limited, rendering every medical case a challenge for conservationists and veterinary clinicians. Although stu...

Objective: To describe clinical signs, treatment, and outcome for California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) with Sarcocystis-associated polyphasic rhabdomyositis. Animals: 38 free-ranging juvenile to adult California sea lions examined at a rehabilitation center in California between September 2015 and December 2017. Procedures: Medical re...

The world’s most endangered small cetaceans are found in countries many miles from Sarasota Bay and its common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ). Information on the ecology and threats to many of these endangered cetaceans is often far more limited than that on bottlenose dolphins, with the IUCN Red Data List describing many species as “da...

High allelic polymorphism and association with disease susceptibility has made the genes encoding major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen presentation molecules in humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife species of wide interest to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and health specialists. The often multifaceted polygenism and extreme p...

The eastern North Pacific gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) population is considered “recovered” since the days of commercial whaling, with a population of over 25,000 animals. However, gray whale habitat is changing rapidly due to urbanization of the migratory coastal corridor, increases in shipping, and climate change altering water conditions a...

Electrofishing is an accepted practice for legal fish sampling and surveying, but its use for subsistence food and market fishing has long been illegal in most countries. Illegal use affects freshwater fish populations in many parts of the world, and has been cited as a cause of mortality for endangered freshwater cetaceans in China (Yangtze dolphi...

ABSTRACT: In 2017 an emergency field effort was undertaken in an attempt to prevent the extinction of the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita Phocoena sinus. The rescue effort involved 90 experts from 9 countries and cost US$ 5 million. Following a long decline due to entanglement in legal gillnet fisheries, the vaquita population ha...

In 2017 an emergency field effort was undertaken in an attempt to prevent the extinction of the world's most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita Phocoena sinus. The rescue effort involved 90 experts from 9 countries and cost US$ 5 million. Following a long decline due to entanglement in legal gillnet fisheries, the vaquita population had fallen f...

For threatened and endangered species, translocations have been widely used to mitigate multiple sources of mortality that threaten population recovery. Although numerous Hawaiian monk seals Neomonachus schauinslandi have been translocated for a variety of purposes, few monk seal translocations have addressed the problem of prey limitation. To asse...

Food limitation and poor body condition are significant factors affecting the survival of juvenile Hawaiian monk seals Monachus schauinslandi in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Previous research has indicated that juvenile monk seals infected with cestodes are in worse body condition than those that are uninfected. To test whether individual gro...

The endangered Western population of the Steller sea lion declined for three decades for uncertain reasons. We present baseline data of metal concentrations in pups as a first step towards investigating the potential threat of developmental exposures to contaminants. Seven metals were investigated: arsenic, cadmium, silver, aluminum, mercury, lead...

To identify risk factors that may predispose California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) to development of cutaneous poxvirus nodules during hospitalization in a rehabilitation center. Retrospective case-control study. 90 California sea lions admitted to a rehabilitation center. Hospital records of 275 stranded California sea lions admitted to th...

Immunoglobulin (Ig) binding patterns of Pacific harbor seals (PHS, Phoca vitulina Tichardsi) and northern elephant seals (NES, Mirounga angustirostris) to tissues of adult Otostrongy1us circumlitus were examined by irriniunoblotting to investigate the role of age in the unusual response of juvenile NES to infection with O. circumlitus. Serum was ta...

Soay Sheep synthesises one of the most detailed studies of demography and dynamics in a naturally regulated population of mammals. Unlike most other large mammals, the Soay sheep population of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago show persistent oscillations, sometimes increasing or declining by more than 60% in a year. Soay Sheep explores the causes...