• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.565-568
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• 2014

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are important in human and livestock health worldwide. In November 2012, ixodid ticks were collected and identified morphologically from cattle and wild animals in the Maswa district and Iringa urban, Tanzania. Amblyomma gemma, A. lepidum, and A. variegatum were identified from Maswa cattle, and A. variegatum was the predominant species. A. marmoreum, Hyalomma impeltatum, and Rhipicephalus pulchellus were identified from Iringa cattle in addition to the above 3 Amblyomma species, and A. gemma was the most abundant species. Total 4 Amblyomma and 6 Rhipicephalus species were identified from wild animals of the 2 areas. A. lepidum was predominant in Maswa buffaloes, whereas A. gemma was predominant in Iringa buffaloes. Overall, A. variegatum in cattle was predominant in the Maswa district and A. gemma was predominant in Iringa, Tanzania.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.67-72
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• 2022

Ecological research relies on the interpretation of large amounts of visual data obtained from extensive wildlife surveys, but such large-scale image interpretation is costly and time-consuming. Using an artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning model, especially convolution neural networks (CNN), it is possible to streamline these manual tasks on image information and to protect wildlife and record and predict behavior. Ecological research using deep-learning-based object recognition technology includes various research purposes such as identifying, detecting, and identifying species of wild animals, and identification of the location of poachers in real-time. These advances in the application of AI technology can enable efficient management of endangered wildlife, animal detection in various environments, and real-time analysis of image information collected by unmanned aerial vehicles. Furthermore, the need for school education and social use on biodiversity and environmental issues using AI is raised. School education and citizen science related to ecological activities using AI technology can enhance environmental awareness, and strengthen more knowledge and problem-solving skills in science and research processes. Under these prospects, in this paper, we compare the results of our early 2013 study, which automatically identified African cichlid fish species using photographic data of them, with the results of reanalysis by CNN deep learning method. By using PyTorch and PyTorch Lightning frameworks, we achieve an accuracy of 82.54% and an F1-score of 0.77 with minimal programming and data preprocessing effort. This is a significant improvement over the previous our machine learning methods, which required heavy feature engineering costs and had 78% accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.340-344
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• 2006

The objective of this paper was to investigate the potential of road-crossing structures as biological corridors that can overcome wildlife habitat fragmentation caused by road construction. Snow tracking on animal trace adjacent to and under bridges, underpasses, and culverts of eight rural highways in Korea was carried out. A total 89 structures were monitored and the results follow. First, the probability of road crossing increases with the increasing cross sectional size of crossing structures. Second, small to medium sized carnivores such as raccoon dog, leopard cat, and Siberian weasel use all types of structures. Finally, water deer, or large herbivore crossed only under bridges. Consequently, further studies are necessary to identify suitable types of road crossing structures that can mitigate the probability of road-kills and habitat fragmentation of water deer.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

With the continuous expansion of highway network and its traffics, neighboring wildlife habitats are splitted into smaller and more isolated patches. The infrastructures contribute to the wildlife-vehicle collision by creating barriers to animal movement. This kinds of traffic accidents are dangerous factors to the drivers' safety and the facilities on the highway as well as to the wildlife themselves. One of the most common ways to prevent habitat fragmentation are fauna crossings and fences. The cost of the mitigation measures to prevent wildlife-vehicle collision could be monetized. However their economic benefits are difficult to be measured. Using contingent valuation method, this study tries to estimate the economic valuation of wildlife collision prevention projects on the Korean highways. The result shows that 43.88% of Korean household had the positive willingness pay to the projects. Moreover, we found that the recognition of the project or the favourable attitude to the environmental issues could raise the willingness-to-pay. Therefore, active public relation on the project could make the friendly public opinion and increase the number of the household which has the positive willingness-to-pay on the project.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.5
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• pp.563-567
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• 2009

This study was conducted to clarify the characteristics of bird communities between before and after forest fire in tropical deciduous Dipterocarp forest of Mondulkiri protected forest of the northeastern Cambodia from January to April 2009. The DBH distribution of trees were different in each DBH class. Most of the trees (> 80%) were belong to < 30 cm DBH. After the forest fire, coverage of understory layers were dramatically decreased by the fire. Total 64 species of birds were recorded, and 64 and 46 species of birds were observed before and after the fire, respectively. Observed number of individuals of bee-eaters, treepies, kingfishers, lapwings, herons, junglefowl, peafowl, prinias and warblers were decreased after the fire. The decrease of those species would be related with the change of habitat condition, such as decrease of water amount and understory coverage. For the management and conservation of junglefowls, peafowls, prinias and warblers, understory vegetation should be maintained in Mondulkiri protected forest, northeastern Cambodia.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.261-265
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to perform retrospective data collection of the sites and types of fracture in raptors in order to enable wildlife veterinarians to manage cases of fracture more effectively. This study included raptors with fracture, rescued between January 2013 and August 2015 in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region in Republic of Korea. The data were collected from the medical reports and radiographic findings acquired from designated animal hospitals for wild animals, the Dongin Animal Hospital and the Kyungpook wildlife rescue center. The distribution, sites, and types of fracture, and outcomes of rescue and fracture management of the raptors included in this study were analyzed. Among the 31 birds included in this study, Falco tinnunculus was the most common species. Of the 42 sites of fracture, the diaphysis of the humerus was the most common site of fracture, and comminuted fracture was the most common type. Of the 31 birds, 13 were treated surgically. Intramedullary pinning with bandaging was the most common method of surgical treatment. While 7 of the 13 birds died, 2 were reintroduced into the wild, and 4 were kept captive. This study presents the evaluation of the data on the species, sites, and types of fracture, and treatment procedures and outcomes in raptors with fractures, rescued in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The findings of this study could serve as a basic database for the treatment of fracture in raptors.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.7-9
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• 2018

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) causes a significant economic burden in the animal production industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of MAP in the feces of wild duck populations residing along a riverside close to farms in the center of Korea. From wild Spot-billed (Anas poecilorhyncha) and Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) ducks, 128 fecal samples were collected and analyzed using multiplex real-time PCR, sequencing, and nested PCR to confirm the presence of the organism. The molecular analyses showed that 44 samples (34.4%) were positive for MAP, suggesting a high prevalence of MAP in the wild duck population. Considering the nature and habitat of wild ducks, this result suggests that the organism was introduced from contaminated water from waste of nearby farms, and that the wild ducks may act as a transmitter of the organism to other wild birds or livestock.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.18.1-18.17
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• 2020

Cat vocalizes to communicate with another and express their internal states. The vocal repertoire of the cat is wide and up to 21 different vocalizations have been described in the literatures. But it is more than probable that the repertoire contains more types of vocalizations. An ethogram was created in this paper describing the actual known vocalisations of the domestic cat based on an auditory classification. However, the audiogram allows also a visual classification which can increase the accuracy of vocalization differentiation. The classification can be risky as it is sometimes unclear if different types of vocalizations are produced in different environments or if a unique type of vocalization is used with variation in the acoustic parameters. As an example, isolation calls produced by kittens differ depending on the context. The environment has an important impact on the vocal behaviour and thus feral cats and pet cats vocalize differently. Pet cats are thus able to create an efficient communication with humans thanks to the flexibility of vocalisation behaviours. This review allowed us to create a simple model of the cat vocal repertory.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.60.1-60.8
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• 2023

Background: Accurate diagnosis of diseases in animals is crucial for their treatment, and imaging evaluations such as radiographs, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are important tools for this purpose. However, a cross-sectional anatomical atlas of normal skeletal and internal organs of long-tailed gorals (Naemorhedus caudatus) has not yet been prepared for diagnosing their diseases. Objectives: The objective of this study was to create an anatomical atlas of gorals using CT and MRI, which are imaging techniques that have not been extensively studied in this type of wild animal in Korea. Methods: The researchers used CT and MRI to create an anatomical atlas of gorals, and selected 37 cross-sections from the head, thoracic, lumbar, and sacrum parts of gorals to produce an average cross-sectional anatomy atlas. Results: This study successfully created an anatomical atlas of gorals using CT and MRI. Conclusions: The atlas provides valuable information for the diagnosis of diseases in gorals, which can improve their treatment and welfare. The study highlights the importance of developing cross-sectional anatomical atlases of gorals to diagnose and treat their diseases effectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.188-199
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• 2015

Nineteen tanniferous browse plants were collected from South Africa to investigate their digestibility, gas production (GP) characteristics and methane production. Fresh samples were collected, dried in forced oven, and ground and analyzed for nutrient composition. In vitro GP and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) were determined using rumen fluid collected, strained and anaerobically prepared. A semi-automated system was used to measure GP by incubating the sample in a shaking incubator at $39^{\circ}C$. There was significant (p<0.05) variation in chemical composition of studied browses. Crude protein (CP) content of the species ranged from 86.9 to 305.0 g/kg dry matter (DM). The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) ranged from 292.8 to 517.5 g/kg DM while acid detergent fiber (ADF) ranged from 273.3 to 495.1 g/kg DM. The ash, ether extract, non-fibrous carbohydrate, neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, and acid detergent insoluble nitrogen and CP were negatively correlated with methane production. Methane production was positively correlated with NDF, ADF, cellulose and hemi-cellulose. Tannin decreased GP, IVOMD, total volatile fatty acid and methane production. The observed low methanogenic potential and substantial ammonia generation of some of the browses might be potentially useful as rumen manipulating agents. However, a systematic evaluation is needed to determine optimum levels of supplementation in a mixed diet in order to attain a maximal depressing effect on enteric $CH_4$ production with a minimal detrimental effect on rumen fermentation of poor quality roughage based diet.