• Question: what diseases do you get?

    Asked by guineapiggirl124 to Barn Owl, Brown garden snail, Common Crane, Emperor Dragonfly, Hazel Dormouse, Catshark, Scotch Thistle, St Kilda Wren on 8 Dec 2017. This question was also asked by hannahannah.
    • Photo: Lesser-Spotted Catshark

      Lesser-Spotted Catshark answered on 8 Dec 2017:

      I am not an expert in shark diseases but I do know that many species of shark, the catshark included, can carry huge loads of intestinal parasites (usually tapeworms). My colleague who is a tapeworm expert has told me that they have found sharks where up to half (!!) their weight was intestinal parasites. There are even several species of tapeworm which only infect sharks.

      There is also a common my that shark’s don’t get cancer. Unfortunately this isn’t true. Sharks DO get cancer and this has been documented although it might be more rare than in some other species. We just don’t know enough about this yet to say for sure.

    • Photo: Common Crane

      Common Crane answered on 8 Dec 2017:

      Tiny heart syndrome =) (jk)

      Common cranes can suffer from crane herpes, infectious bursal disease virus, avian pox and different parasites (coccidian, trematodes, cestode, nematodes, tick, mallophages). Sometimes I wish cranes had hands to be able to cook the food properly. But then again, the trade-off is the ability to fly freely 🙁

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