Mercury bioaccumulation in hair and skin of arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in rural and urbanized region

Abstract

Mercury bioaccumulation in hair and skin of silver and arctic foxes farmed in typically rural and urbanized regions (Wielkopolskie Voivodship, Poland) was assessed. Hair and skin samples were collected and analyzed for total Hg content using atomic absorption spectrometry. Hairs and skin of foxes farmed in the rural region accumulated higher amount of Hg compared to animals from the urbanized one. Species effect (lower Hg concentration in V. lagopus) was noted, females having higher accumulation compared with males. The highest Hg content was observed in hairs of V. vulpes females in the rural region (0.207 mg/kg on average), and in skin of V. lagopus females (0.0082 mg/kg on average). Highly significant correlation (r = 0.796) was noted between Hg content in skin and hairs of farm foxes. The present study confirms the previous finding that non-invasively collected hair samples are a good tool applicable in evaluating heavy metal load of different environments.

Assessing Mercury Content in Plant and Animal Raw Materials in an Area Impacted by the Copper Industry

“…Another good example of an environmental pollution bioindicator is toxic metals concentration in animal hair. The values obtained are relatively lower compared to other domestic animals [3,[41][42], but similar to the results of previous studies [39]. It is interesting that mercury content in horse hair is positively and significantly correlated with other investigated elements, such as arsenic, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and selenium [43].…”

Effect of Accumulation of Heavy Metals in the Red Fox Intestine on the Prevalence of Its Intestinal Parasites

“…It is, therefore, appropriate to pay attention to other, especially non-invasive monitoring methods that do not request killing. Animal hair analysis is commonly used for the purpose of environmental pollution monitoring [28][29][30].…”