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Diseases of Capybara

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Capybara

Abstract

Disease control is an important part of wildlife management both in the wild and in captivity (Caughley and Sinclair 1994). Capybaras, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, carry a wide range of parasites and other diseases including hemoparasites and gut parasites (Mones and Martinez 1982), but appear to be largely resistant to their effects and show few signs of ill-health (Emilio A. Herrera, personal communication). In this chapter, I describe the diseases that affect capybaras in the wild and in captivity. The information presented here is based on a decade of experience in capybara breeding and husbandry, based initially at the “Módulo Experimental de Cría de Carpinchos,” located in the Experimental Station of the Paraná Delta (Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fig. 9.1), and later on commercial breeding farms, with additional information obtained from the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ecología Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), UBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, 4 Piso, Laboratorio 104, Buenos Aires, C1428EHA, Argentina

    Gerardo Rubén Cueto

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  1. Gerardo Rubén Cueto
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Correspondence to Gerardo Rubén Cueto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnolog, Av. W5 Norte, Brasília, DF-70770, Brazil

    José Roberto Moreira

  2. , Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Pádua Dias 11, Piracicaba, 13418-900, São Paulo, Brazil

    Katia Maria P.M.B. Ferraz

  3. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Miranda-Apartado, Caracas, 8900, Venezuela

    Emilio A. Herrera

  4. , Zoology Dept., University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Oxford, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom

    David W. Macdonald

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Cueto, G.R. (2013). Diseases of Capybara. In: Moreira, J., Ferraz, K., Herrera, E., Macdonald, D. (eds) Capybara. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4000-0_9

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