sylvatic

adjective

syl·vat·ic sil-ˈva-tik

: sylvan

sylvatic rodents

: occurring in or affecting wild animals

sylvatic diseases

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Pigs, rats, and dogs are the beasts most commonly implicated as hosts in the domestic sphere, but more exotic animals such as wild boar, walrus, and polar bear may also serve in the sylvatic or wild animal cycle of Trichinella. —

Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 25 Dec. 2016 Shortly after, a new threat arose when a spread of sylvatic plague nearly wiped out the remaining ferrets, spreading from the prairie dogs the ferrets prey on. —

Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 21 July 2022 Added genetic diversity could help protect the population from diseases such as sylvatic plague and canine distemper that periodically slash its numbers, reports Mead Gruver for the Associated Press. —

Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Feb. 2021 All ferrets reintroduced so far are the descendants of just seven closely related animals — genetic similarity that makes today’s ferrets potentially susceptible to intestinal parasites and diseases such as sylvatic plague. —

Mead Gruver, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2021 All ferrets reintroduced so far are the descendants of just seven closely related animals — genetic similarity that makes today’s ferrets potentially susceptible to intestinal parasites and diseases such as sylvatic plague. —

NBC News, 19 Feb. 2021 The lack of genetic diversity is a concern for scientists, however: Genetic similarity would make the new ferrets potentially susceptible to intestinal parasites and diseases such as sylvatic plague. —

Peter Aitken, Fox News, 19 Feb. 2021 Diseases like sylvatic plague wiped out the ferrets that the biologists left behind. —

Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2021 Most of those rare animals were then lost to disease, including sylvatic plague, the animal version of the Black Death that has plagued humans. —

Jonel Aleccia, Quartz, 23 Dec. 2020 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sylvatic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.