![Sample our Environment & Agriculture journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5934/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Environment-Agriculture.jpg"})
Abstract
Extract
Madam: — Brushtail possums transmit bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) to cattle in New Zealand.Citation(2) In the laboratory the infection can spread from possum to possum by droplet infectionCitation(1) but little is known about infection routes in the wild. It is widely supposed that shared dens provide sites for transmitting tuberculosis among possums,Citation(4) but there is little hard information on den-sharing in the scientific literature. WinterCitation(6) inspected possum dens in Queensland eucalypt forest on 783 occasions and found adult animals shared these sites on 23 occasions. At the most, two adult animals shared these dens. JollyCitation(3) noted a pair of males in a single shelter on Banks Peninsula. PracyCitation(5) reported that “instances of more than three opposums occupying the one nest have been observed frequently where populations are at high or peak levels”.