Behavioral discrimination of kin is a key process structuring social relationships in animals. In this study, we provide evidence for discrimination towards non-kin by third-parties through a mechanism of phenotype matching. In mandrills, we recently demonstrated increased facial resemblance among paternally related juvenile and adult females indicating adaptive opportunities for paternal kin recognition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMandrills are large-bodied terrestrial forest primates living in particularly large social groups of several hundred individuals. Following these groups in the wild to assess differences in diet over time as well as among individuals is demanding. We here use isotope analyses in blood and hair obtained during repeated captures of 43 identified free-ranging mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Southern Gabon, to test how dietary variation relates to the season as well as an individual's age and sex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
December 2019
Unravelling the determinants of host variation in susceptibility and exposure to parasite infections, infection dynamics and the consequences of parasitism on host health is of paramount interest to understand the evolution of complex host-parasite interactions. In this study, we evaluated the determinants, temporal changes and physiological correlates of infections in a large natural population of mandrills (). Over six consecutive years, we obtained detailed parasitological and physiological data from 100 male and female mandrills of all ages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlasmodium falciparum, the most virulent agent of human malaria, shares a recent common ancestor with the gorilla parasite Plasmodium praefalciparum. Little is known about the other gorilla- and chimpanzee-infecting species in the same (Laverania) subgenus as P. falciparum, but none of them are capable of establishing repeated infection and transmission in humans.
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