What is the most common predator of the animal that is susceptible to the parasite Parelaphostrongylus tenuis and typically inhabit boreal forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates?
Parelaphostrongylus tenuis Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (also known as meningeal worm, brainworm, or moose illness) is a neurotropic nematode parasite common to white-tailed deer, "Odocoileus virginianus", which causes damage to the central nervous system. Moose ("Alces alces"), elk ("Cervus canadensis"), caribou ("Rangifer tarandus"), and mule deer ("Odocoileus hemionus") are also susceptible to the parasite but are aberrant hosts and are infected in neurological instead of meningeal tissue. The frequency of infection in these species increases dramatically when their ranges overlap high densities of white-tailed deer.
Gray fox The gray fox ("Urocyon cinereoargenteus"), or grey fox, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Canidae ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America (Venezuela and Colombia). No other canid's natural range spans both North and South America and it is the only American canid that can climb trees. This species and its only congener, the diminutive Channel Island fox ("Urocyon littoralis"), are the only living members of the genus "Urocyon", which is considered to be the most basal of the living canids. Though it was once the most common fox in the eastern United States, and still is found there, human advancement and deforestation allowed the red fox to become more dominant. The Pacific States still have the gray fox as a dominant. Its specific epithet "cinereoargenteus" means "ashen silver".