VIDEO: Week in the forest: pests come uninvited

 

Sarcoptic mange or scabies in wolves and other mammals is caused by the itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei),  that often makes its victims hairless. The name itself indicates that we have to do with a creature that on becoming a “lodger” signals its presence by itches. At worst diseased animals may scratch off the last tufts of fur from their bodies. Mostly young individuals are infected: their immune system is still weak, and at the same time they are exposed to clearly more stress than adult animals. Recent studies have shown that in our environmental conditions the illness for the main carriers of sarcoptic mange – raccoon dogs and foxes – generally ends with death; but adult wolves for instance have quite reasonable chances of recovery locally. The chances of survival are of course significantly influenced by the latitude where the infected animal lives. Thus animals living in regions with severe climate have less chance of seeing “a new spring“.

 

In wolf packs a behaviour is clearly distinguishable: when a young individual that is not in a leader position in the pack becomes infected, it withdraws from the pack and so becomes a lone wolf. Being apart from the flock means however hunger, exhaustion and eventually death for the animal. Infection of leading animals in the pack does not as a rule cause the pack to break up.

 

In the video clips we see two different members of a wolf pack living in South Estonia, separated from the pack and with strong sarcoptic mange symptoms, attempting to find some food on the remains of an elk calf killed by their healthy relatives and eaten clean.