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Acute impacts of the deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) infestation on reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) behaviour

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Abstract

Blood-sucking ectoparasites have often a strong impact on the behaviour of their hosts. The annual insect harassment of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) has increased in the southern part of the Finnish reindeer herding area because of the recent invasion of a blood-feeding ectoparasitic louse-fly, the deer ked (Lipoptena cervi). We studied the impact of the deer ked on the behaviour of reindeer. Twelve reindeer were infested with a total of 300 keds/reindeer on six occasions in a 5-week period during the deer ked flight season in autumn, while six non-infested reindeer were used as controls. Behavioural patterns indicating potential stress were monitored by visual observation from August to December. The infested reindeer displayed more incidences of restless behaviour than the controls. Shaking and scratching were the most common forms of restless behaviour after infestation of deer keds. Increased grooming was also observed after the transplantation and also later, 1 month after the infestation. Based on the results, the deer ked infestation can cause acute behavioural disturbance in reindeer and, thus, could pose a potential threat to reindeer welfare. Antiparasitic treatment with, e.g. ivermectin, may increase the welfare of parasitized reindeer by reducing deer keds. If the deer ked infestation intensity on the reindeer herding area increases and restless behaviour of reindeer becomes more common, the present results can help in further evaluation of the duration and magnitude of behavioural changes.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Jari Ylönen, Milla Solismaa, Anu Ruohomäki, Anna Honkanen, Pertti Rautio, the Biological Research Facility Unit of the University of Oulu and Finnish Food Safety Authority for their help during the experiment. We thank also the University of Oulu, Vetcare Oy and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Makera), Oulu University Scholarship Foundation (S-M.K.), Finnish Concordia Fund (S-M.K.) and Finnish Cultural Foundation (S-M.K.) for the financial support for this study. Thanks also to Arctic Doctoral Programme ARKTIS (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland) and Graduate School of the Unversity of Oulu (UniOgs) for their support to this study (S-M.K.). We also want to thank Panu Välimäki for his useful comments for this manuscript.

The experiment complied with the current laws of Finland and was conducted by the permission of the Committee on Animal Experiments of the University (licence decision STH378A; 16 May 2007/ESLH-2007-03532/Ym-23).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland

    Sanna-Mari Kynkäänniemi, Maria Kettu, Raine Kortet, Laura Härkönen & Arja Kaitala

  2. Faculty of Science and Forestry, Department of Biology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Raine Kortet, Tommi Paakkonen, Anne-Mari Mustonen & Petteri Nieminen

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Biomedicine/Anatomy, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Tommi Paakkonen, Anne-Mari Mustonen & Petteri Nieminen

  4. Finnish Wildlife Agency, Kiekkotie 4, FI-70200, Kuopio, Finland

    Sauli Härkönen

  5. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Konnevesi Research Station, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Hannu Ylönen

  6. University of Helsinki, P. O. Box 33, FI-00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Sauli Laaksonen

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  1. Sanna-Mari Kynkäänniemi
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  2. Maria Kettu
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Correspondence to Sanna-Mari Kynkäänniemi.

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Kynkäänniemi, SM., Kettu, M., Kortet, R. et al. Acute impacts of the deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) infestation on reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) behaviour. Parasitol Res 113, 1489–1497 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-014-3790-3

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