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Indications of Copper Deficiency in a Subpopulation of Alaskan Moose¹

Trace Element Center, Department of Surgery, Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio 44109; Kenai Moose Research Center, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Soldotna, Alaska 99669; and Denver Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai, Alaska 99611

Three years of moose hair analyses indicated low copper status in a subpopulation of Alaskan moose (Alces alces gigas) from the Kenai Pensinsula of south-central Alaska. To confirm these findings and to determine if these animals had a copper deficiency, further studies were conducted that involved both animal and plant parameters. Ceruloplasmin and blood copper levels were markedly lower than domestic ruminant norms and demonstrated seasonal peaking. Browse plants were marginally sufficient in copper content with an overall mean of 5.72 ppm. Clinical signs of copper deficiency were noted in the Kenai Peninsula moose subpopulation: 1) a faulty hoof keratinization, and 2) a decrease in reproductive rates. Faulty keratinization was linked with copper deficiency by both mineral element analyses and photoelectron spectroscopy. Decreased copper and sulfur hoof content and an abnormal electron spectroscopy chemical analysis (ESCA) spectra indicated incomplete sulfur cross-linking in the hoof keratin. The decreased reproductive rates, actual pregnancy counts, may be correlated with poorer nutritive quality of browse in the region of this subpopulation of moose. All data supported the initial hair copper findings and indicated a copper deficiency in moose from the Kenai Peninsula linked to decreased browse copper content.

KEY WORDS: • ceruloplasmin • keratinization • copper deficiency • moose

¹ This work was supported in part by Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project W-17-R.

Manuscript received 4 February 1976.

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