Hematology and Blood Chemistry Values in Free-Living Chimango caracara (Milvago chimango).

PATERLINI CARLA; BÓ MARÍA SUSANA; GARCÍA GERMÁN OSCAR; FUENTES GISELLE; CÓRDOBA RODRIGO; RANA CRISTIAN; VASSALLO ALDO IVÁN; BIONDI LAURA MARINA

Conferencia; Ornithological Congress of the Americas; 2017

The study of blood parameters is frequently used to evaluate the condition and health at individual and population level of wildlife species. Furthermore, they are useful diagnostic tools in clinical practice and are especially important in birds, which frequently show few overt clinical signs of disease. The Carara Chimango (Milvago chimango), a South American endemic species, is distributed over a wide spectrum of environments, being the only raptor in Argentina whose abundance is positively correlated with the level of anthropization. In the framework of a project that studies the flexibility in the physiological and behavioral responses of this species to urbanization, blood was extracted from 23 individuals with the aim of establishing reference values of the main blood parameters. All birds appeared to be in good body condition and no abnormalities were noted during physical examination. The reference values of the main blood parameters measured were: hematocrit 43.91±4.43%, total erythrocytes 2.49×106±0.43×106 mm3, total leukocytes 15.93×103±5.88×103 mm3, hemoglobin 14.19±1.95 g/dl, glucose 3.73±0.72 g/l, urea 0.46±0.29 g/l, creatinine 1.32±0.99 mg/dl, uric acid 6.49±3.38 mg/dl, total protein 4.17±1.08 g/dl, albumin: globulin 1.63±1.04, cholesterol 153.63±38.58 mg/dl, phosphatase alkaline 460.50±208.13 IU/l, alanine aminotransferase 75.69±42.70 IU/l, aspartate aminotransferase 106.38±45.20 IU/l, creatine phosphokinase 1739.47±986.72 IU/l, phosphorus 5.83±3.13 mg/dl and calcium 6.68±2.17 mg/dl. This study presents the first values of blood parameters indicative of the state of health and individual condition of the chimango, contributing to the knowledge of the raptor and generating key information when promoting management plans of this species that is constantly expanding.