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Elsevier, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 3(4), p. 291-294, 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2015.05.005

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Sea otter health: Challenging a pet hypothesis

Journal article published in 2015 by Kevin D. Lafferty ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

A recent series of studies on tagged sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) challenges the hypothesis that sea otters are sentinels of a dirty ocean, in particular, that pet cats are the main source of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii in central California. Counter to expectations, sea otters from unpopulated stretches of coastline are less healthy and more exposed to parasites than city-associated otters. Ironically, now it seems that spillover from wildlife, not pets, dominates spatial patterns of disease transmission.