Title
Social and spatial correlates of disease prevalence in sympatric western lowland gorillas and central chimpanzees
Author(s)
McElmurray, P.;Morgan, D.;Ngoteni, D.;Magema, J. E.;Wawa, J.;Ndassoba, S.;Koni, D.;Sanz, C.
Published
2020
Publisher
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Abstract
Over the last fifty years, precipitous declines in western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) populations have been attributed to habitat loss, poaching, and infectious diseases. Respiratory pathogens, lesion-causing-bacteria, and emerging diseases such as Ebola and anthrax have been of particular concern with regard to these coexisting apes. Certain aspects of gorilla and chimpanzee sociality and ranging could affect disease spread dynamics of various pathogens depending upon mode of transmission. In this study, we predicted that differences in gorilla and chimpanzee social grouping and home range usage would influence patterns of within- and between- population prevalence of respiratory diseases and lesions. We used longitudinal health monitoring of four groups of gorillas and one community of chimpanzees in northern Republic of Congo conducted from January 2008 to July 2019 to test whether frequency of symptoms was related to group stability, home range size, and range overlap. Prevalence of respiratory disease and lesions varied over time and in relation to within and between-group social interactions. Respiratory outbreaks spread more consistently among gorillas who tend to live in polygynous family groups which show high degrees of range overlap. Whereas in the chimpanzees, the emergence and spread of lesions through individuals within the community was insular and reflective of their fission-fusion subgroups and highly territorial behavior. Understanding how differing social dynamics, range use, and interspecies interactions affect disease prevalence is imperative to effectively conserving remaining ape populations in the Congo Basin.
Keywords
Anthropology;Evolutionary Biology
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the WCS Library to request.
![]()
Back
PUB25089