Wild Animals at Increased Risk of Disease due to Living Spaces

Animals in the wild often don't have the luxury to pick and choose the environment to make their home in, and unfortunately, as dirt and other particles can create a messy living-space, it can also potentially increase the risk of disease.

Researchers looked at mice that had shown their preference to sleep and eat near used nesting material and droppings left by other mice.

As pets and domestic animals have a plentiful amount of food and a low risk of being attacked by predators. However, for the mice, choosing a safe place to sleep and taking the opportunity to eat often outweighs any increased risk of infection that could be brought on from an unclean environment.

Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and California Santa Cruz studied two types of wild mice in Virginia. They collected information from woodland and placed a box for several hours, with the mice either being close to mouse droppings or away from them. A similar experiment shows new and soiled nesting material.

Scientists found that the animals preferred being near droppings and second-hand nest material, regardless of whether there was an increased risk of contracting parasites in either case.

Dr Patrick Walsh of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who took part in the study, said, via a press release: "Domesticated animals generally avoid faeces to reduce the chance of parasitic infection, but this study shows that wild animals are more concerned with the risk of starvation than with table manners, taking any opportunity to feed. They may even associate faeces with safety - a spot where a mouse has lived long enough to nest and poo is probably pretty safe - and that is worth the risk of disease. This helps us learn more about how diseases spread in the natural world."

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Animal Behaviour.