Many issues concerning the taxonomy of Echinococcus have been resolved in recent years with the application of molecular tools. However, the status of Echinococcus maintained in transmission cycles involving cervid intermediate hosts remains to be determined. The recent characterization of the parasite from cervids in Finland has highlighted the paucity of data available, particularly that from North America. In this study, we have characterized a large number of Echinococcus isolates from cervids from Western Canada on the basis of morphology and molecular genetic techniques. Our results support earlier studies suggesting that Echinococcus of cervid origin is phenotypically and genetically distinct to Echinococcus maintained in domestic host assemblages, and also confirms that Echinococcus of cervid origin does not constitute a genetically homogeneous group. However, our data do not support the existence of 2 distinct genotypes (strains/subspecies) with separate geographical distributions. Our data appear to support the existence of only 1 species in cervids, but additional isolates from cervids and wolves in other endemic regions should be characterized before a final decision is made on the taxonomic status of Echinococcus in cervids.

In sexually dimorphic ungulates, male reproductive success depends on fighting with other males for access to females during a brief rutting season. Large body size is necessary for success in intrasexual competition, and a few large-sized males are often able to monopolize access to female groups. Earlier studies have reported that reproductive effort increases with age until prime-age is reached, and one study that population density lowered effort in (older) males. No study has directly assessed whether there is within-age-class variation in effort resulting from varying levels of intra-male competition. It is reported here the weight loss during the rutting season of 54 individual male reindeer Rangifer tarandus coming from eight herds with varying density (3.3–6.0 deer/km2) and sex ratio (4–28% males). In agreement with earlier studies, reproductive effort was lower for young (1- to 2-year-old) than for prime-aged (3- to 5-year-old) males both on an absolute and relative scale. Among 1-year-old males (n=33), effort was lower as sex ratio became closer to even, but density during the rutting season had no effect. This suggests that yearling males take a more active role when prime-aged males are absent. In addition to the insight into male ungulate life history, understanding male rutting behaviour may also have implications for population dynamics.