On 27 January 2000, a struvite calculus was observed in the vagina during necropsy of a 138-cm-long female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) collected from the Stono River, South Carolina (USA). Vaginal calculi have been reported in other species of cetaceans but not in bottlenose dolphins. Urinary tract infection might have been an underlying cause of the calculus. While urinary tract inflammation was not detected by light microscopic evaluation of sections of the urinary tract, it is conceivable that sufficient time had lapsed following voiding of the calculus through the urethra for urinary tract infection to have resolved. To further define the prevalence and significance of urolithiasis, prosectors of dead stranded marine mammals are encouraged to closely observe their urinary and genital tracts for calculi and to submit them for quantitative analysis.
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1 January 2004
Struvite Calculus in the Vagina of a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Wayne E. McFee,
Carl A. Osborne
Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Vol. 40 • No. 1
January 2004
Vol. 40 • No. 1
January 2004
bottlenose dolphins
case report
struvite
Tursiops truncatus
vaginal calculus