Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the following paper: Díaz-Delgado, J., Fernández, A., Sierra, E., Sacchini, S., Andrada, M., Vela, A.I., Quesada-Canales, Ó., Paz, Y., Zucca, D., Groch, K., and Arbelo, M. (2018). Pathologic findings and causes of death of stranded cetaceans in the Canary Islands (2006-2012). PLOS ONE 13, e0204444. This represents (PhD work) a the second long term systematic pathological study (06-12). The article is open access, and available from: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204444 Abstract: This study describes the pathologic findings and most probable causes of death (CD) of 224 cetaceans stranded along the coastline of the Canary Islands (Spain) over a 7-year period, 2006–2012. Most probable CD, grouped as pathologic categories (PCs), was identified in 208/224 (92.8%) examined animals. Within natural PCs, those associated with good nutritional status represented 70/208 (33.6%), whereas, those associated with significant loss of nutritional status represented 49/208 (23.5%). Fatal intra- and interspecific traumatic interactions were 37/208 (17.8%). Vessel collisions included 24/208 (11.5%). Neonatal/perinatal pathology involved 13/208 (6.2%). Fatal interaction with fishing activities comprised 10/208 (4.8%). Within anthropogenic PCs, foreign body-associated pathology represented 5/208 (2.4%). A CD could not be determined in 16/208 (7.7%) cases. Natural PCs were dominated by infectious and parasitic disease processes. Herein, our results suggest that between 2006 and 2012, in the Canary Islands, direct human activity appeared responsible for 19% of cetaceans deaths, while natural pathologies accounted for 81%. These results, integrating novel findings and published reports, aid in delineating baseline knowledge on cetacean pathology and may be of value to rehabilitators, caregivers, diagnosticians and future conservation policies. The first long term systematical study (99-05) is also avaliable here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236099462_Pathology_and_causes_of_d... Regards, Dr. Antonio Fernández (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonio_Fernandez6) Dr. Manuel Arbelo Institute of Animal Health University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. www.iusa.eu Antes de imprimir este correo electrónico, piense bien si es necesario hacerlo: el medio ambiente es una cuestión de todos. Please consider the environment before printing this email.