Wild Mammal Mortality Causes in Southern Germany from Necropsies (2019–2023)

2,118 complete necropsy reports of wild mammals submitted to public veterinary investigation authorities in southern Germany between 2019 and 2023. Data were analyzed by M. Nowak and categorized by species, age, sex, season, and cause of death using the WHO ICD-11 system. The study highlights infectious diseases and trauma as leading mortality factors.

Use Cases

• Analyze seasonal mortality patterns based on the pronounced spring peak mentioned in the description
• Model regional clustering of infectious diseases like tularemia and canine distemper based on the described findings
• Compare cause-of-death distributions across species such as European hare, red fox, roe deer, and wild boar
• Assess the impact of anthropogenic drivers like road traffic collisions based on the trauma classification

Strengths

• Includes 2,118 complete necropsy reports, providing a substantial sample size
• Covers a 5-year time range from 2019 to 2023, allowing for temporal trend analysis
• Uses standardized WHO ICD-11 classification for mortality causes, supporting international comparability
• Represents data from all public veterinary investigation authorities in southern Germany, suggesting comprehensive regional coverage

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling
• Data is stored in a DOCX file (15.3 KB), which is a tiny dataset and may require extraction to a structured format

Provenance

Source

Public veterinary investigation authorities in southern Germany

Collection Method

Retrospective analysis of necropsy reports

Time Range

2019–2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 05:34:14; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Germany