In a collaborative case study, Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, TVMDL, pathologist, Josué Díaz-Delgado, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVP, brought attention to the link between vertebral column diseases in herbivorous marine mammals with life in captivity.
The study suggests that prolonged confinement likely led to vertebral column deviations, namely scoliosis and kyphosis, in a 52-year-old Antillean manatee. Reports of such deformities and their other combinations in marine mammals are limited in the current scientific literature. In addition to severe kyphoscoliosis, CT imaging in the study showed spinal cord compression and chronic myopathic alterations in the manatee.
Learn more about this study and read the full text by visiting Journal of Comparative Pathology.
For more information on TVMDL’s testing options, visit tvmdl.tamu.edu or call the College Station lab at 1.888.646.5623.
