Abstract
In June of 2013, our team embarked on the first of what would be many projects investigating the health of Galápagos wildlife. With a permit from the Galápagos National Park (PNG) in progress, and the support of the Galápagos Science Center (GSC), three of us (Greg Lewbart, Max Hirschfeld, Ken Lohmann), along with PNG Ranger Juan Garcia and several GSC volunteers, initiated and completed a 2-day health assessment of 28 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and a single hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). While waiting for our research permit and our aviso de campo (field permit) to be finalized, we had almost a week to explore San Cristóbal and think about future projects related to veterinary medicine and wild animal welfare. A literature search turned up hundreds of articles on wildlife evolution, natural history, ecology, genetics, invasive species eradication, anatomy, and physiology. The veterinary literature was limited to about five dozen publications, most focused on avian species. Many avian taxa were covered and included topics such as parasites, bacterial diseases, viral diseases, pollution, and baseline health assessments (Calle et al. 2017). Very few papers addressed health and diseases of reptiles, and we decided this would be a good area to focus.
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References
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Lewbart, G.A. et al. (2023). Ten Years of Wildlife Health and Conservation in the Galapagos, 2013–2022. In: Walsh, S.J., Mena, C.F., Stewart, J.R., Muñoz Pérez, J.P. (eds) Island Ecosystems. Social and Ecological Interactions in the Galapagos Islands. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28089-4_20
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