Serosurvey of Arboviruses in Free-ranging Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Costa Rica.

We investigated the prevalence of arthropod-borne viral diseases in a population of free-ranging mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Costa Rica in 1998. Blood samples were opportunistically collected from monkeys anesthetized for another study. Serology was performed on 64 individuals to assess exposure of this population to vesicular stomatitis virus, equine encephalitis viruses, Mayaro virus, St.

Hematology and serum biochemistry of free-ranging mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) at La Pacifica, Costa Rica.

Background: Hematologic and blood biochemical values are key tools for assessing primate health. A long-term behavioral study of howler monkeys at a single site (La Pacífica, Guanacaste, Costa Rica), afforded the opportunity to develop baseline values for a large group of animals, evaluating differences between adult males and females and comparing to a report in the same population two decades later.

Methods: In 1998, 64 free-ranging mantled howler monkeys were anesthetized and sampled for hematologic and biochemical analysis.

Sexual dimorphism and growth in Alouatta palliata based on 20+ years of field data.

Objectives: Alouatta palliata patterns of growth and sexual dimorphism are evaluated using 20 plus years of field data. Comparisons are made to other species of Alouatta and other New World primates.

Materials And Methods: Records of 92 A.

Getting Humans Off Monkeys' Backs: Using Primate Acclimation as a Guide for Habitat Management Efforts.

Wild primates face grave conservation challenges, with habitat loss and climate change projected to cause mass extinctions in the coming decades. As large-bodied Neotropical primates, mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) are predicted to fare poorly under climate change, yet are also known for their resilience in a variety of environments, including highly disturbed habitats. We utilized ecophysiology research on this species to determine the morphological, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms howlers employ to overcome ecological challenges.

Associations Between Nutrition, Gut Microbiome, and Health in A Novel Nonhuman Primate Model.

Red-shanked doucs (Pygathrix nemaeus) are endangered, foregut-fermenting colobine primates which are difficult to maintain in captivity. There are critical gaps in our understanding of their natural lifestyle, including dietary habits such as consumption of leaves, unripe fruit, flowers, seeds, and other plant parts. There is also a lack of understanding of enteric adaptations, including their unique microflora.

The gut microbiome of nonhuman primates: Lessons in ecology and evolution.

The mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract is home to trillions of bacteria that play a substantial role in host metabolism and immunity. While progress has been made in understanding the role that microbial communities play in human health and disease, much less attention has been given to host-associated microbiomes in nonhuman primates (NHPs). Here we review past and current research exploring the gut microbiome of NHPs.

Thyroid hormone fluctuations indicate a thermoregulatory function in both a tropical (Alouatta palliata) and seasonally cold-habitat (Macaca fuscata) primate.

Thyroid hormones boost animals' basal metabolic rate and represent an important thermoregulatory pathway for mammals that face cold temperatures. Whereas the cold thermal pressures experienced by primates in seasonal habitats at high latitudes and elevations are often apparent, tropical habitats also display distinct wet and dry seasons with modest changes in thermal environment. We assessed seasonal and temperature-related changes in thyroid hormone levels for two primate species in disparate thermal environments, tropical mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata), and seasonally cold-habitat Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).

An assessment of skin temperature gradients in a tropical primate using infrared thermography and subcutaneous implants.

Infrared thermography has become a useful tool to assess surface temperatures of animals for thermoregulatory research. However, surface temperatures are an endpoint along the body's core-shell temperature gradient. Skin and fur are the peripheral tissues most exposed to ambient thermal conditions and are known to serve as thermosensors that initiate thermoregulatory responses.

Captivity humanizes the primate microbiome.

The primate gastrointestinal tract is home to trillions of bacteria, whose composition is associated with numerous metabolic, autoimmune, and infectious human diseases. Although there is increasing evidence that modern and Westernized societies are associated with dramatic loss of natural human gut microbiome diversity, the causes and consequences of such loss are challenging to study. Here we use nonhuman primates (NHPs) as a model system for studying the effects of emigration and lifestyle disruption on the human gut microbiome.

A comparison of activity patterns for captive Propithecus tattersalli and Propithecus coquereli.

The activity patterns and social interactions of two species of captive sifaka were observed during a 2-year period. Allogrooming was not observed in golden-crowned sifaka and they spent significantly more time resting than the Coquerel's sifaka. Females of both species were found to be dominant to males.

Dust in the wind: How climate variables and volcanic dust affect rates of tooth wear in Central American howling monkeys.

Objectives: Two factors have been considered important contributors to tooth wear: dietary abrasives in plant foods themselves and mineral particles adhering to ingested food. Each factor limits the functional life of teeth. Cross-population studies of wear rates in a single species living in different habitats may point to the relative contributions of each factor.

Testing parallel laser image scaling for remotely measuring body dimensions on mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

Body size is a fundamental variable for many studies in primate biology. However, obtaining body dimensions of wild primates through live capture is difficult and costly, so developing an alternative inexpensive and non-invasive method is crucial. Parallel laser image scaling for remotely measuring body size has been used with some success in marine and terrestrial animals, but only one arboreal primate.

When top-down becomes bottom up: behaviour of hyperdense howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) trapped on a 0.6 ha island.

Predators are a ubiquitous presence in most natural environments. Opportunities to contrast the behaviour of a species in the presence and absence of predators are thus rare. Here we report on the behaviour of howler monkey groups living under radically different conditions on two land-bridge islands in Lago Guri, Venezuela.

Body temperature and thermal environment in a generalized arboreal anthropoid, wild mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

Free-ranging primates are confronted with the challenge of maintaining an optimal range of body temperatures within a thermally dynamic environment that changes daily, seasonally, and annually. While many laboratory studies have been conducted on primate thermoregulation, we know comparatively little about the thermal pressures primates face in their natural, evolutionarily relevant environment. Such knowledge is critical to understanding the evolution of thermal adaptations in primates and for comparative evaluation of humans' unique thermal adaptations.

Daily activity and light exposure levels for five species of lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center.

Light is the primary synchronizer of all biological rhythms, yet little is known about the role of the 24-hour luminous environment on nonhuman primate circadian patterns, making it difficult to understand the photic niche of the ancestral primate. Here we present the first data on proximate light-dark exposure and activity-rest patterns in free-ranging nonhuman primates. Four individuals each of five species of lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center (Eulemur mongoz, Lemur catta, Propithecus coquereli, Varecia rubra, and Varecia variegata variegata) were fitted with a Daysimeter-D pendant that contained light and accelerometer sensors.

Calibrating single-ended fiber-optic Raman spectra distributed temperature sensing data.

Hydrologic research is a very demanding application of fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) in terms of precision, accuracy and calibration. The physics behind the most frequently used DTS instruments are considered as they apply to four calibration methods for single-ended DTS installations. The new methods presented are more accurate than the instrument-calibrated data, achieving accuracies on the order of tenths of a degree root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias.

Are we looking for loads in all the right places? New research directions for studying the masticatory apparatus of New World monkeys.

New World monkeys display a wide range of masticatory apparatus morphologies related to their diverse diets and feeding strategies. While primatologists have completed many studies of the platyrrhine masticatory apparatus, particularly morphometric analyses, we collectively acknowledge key shortcomings in our understanding of the function and evolution of the platyrrhine feeding apparatus. Our goal in this contribution is to review several recent, and in most cases ongoing, efforts to address some of the deficits in our knowledge of how the platyrrhine skull is loaded during feeding.

Chemical characterization of oligosaccharides in the milk of six species of New and Old World monkeys.

Human and great ape milks contain a diverse array of milk oligosaccharides, but little is known about the milk oligosaccharides of other primates, and how they differ among taxa. Neutral and acidic oligosaccharides were isolated from the milk of three species of Old World or catarrhine monkeys (Cercopithecidae: rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), toque macaque (Macaca sinica) and Hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas)) and three of New World or platyrrhine monkeys (Cebidae: tufted capuchin (Cebus apella) and Bolivian squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis); Atelidae: mantled howler (Alouatta palliata)). The milks of these species contained 6-8% total sugar, most of which was lactose: the estimated ratio of oligosaccharides to lactose in Old World monkeys (1:4 to 1:6) was greater than in New World monkeys (1:12 to 1:23).

Dietary choices by four captive slender lorises (Loris tardigradus) when presented with various insect life stages.

The slender loris (Loris tardigradus) is a rare, nocturnal prosimian found only in the tropical rainforest of southern India and Sri Lanka. Little is known about their diet, though it is assumed that insects comprise a majority of their wild diet. Based on this assumption, captive lorises are offered a variety of insects or insect life stages; the species of insect or the life stage is often determined by what is easiest to buy or rear.

Secondary transfer of adult mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata) on Hacienda La Pacifica, Costa Rica: 1975-2009.

Natal emigration by male and female mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata), and subsequent immigration into breeding groups, is well documented for the free-ranging population on Hacienda La Pacifica, Costa Rica, but secondary transfer was considered rare (Glander in Int J Primatol 3:415-436, 1992). Population surveys in 1998 and 2006 caused us to question our assumptions and to re-evaluate our long-term data set from a post hoc perspective. We first identified all animals observed or captured as adults in more than one non-natal group anywhere in the population.

Ethnicity, race, and clinically significant macular edema in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT).

Objective: To determine risk factors in clinically significant macular edema (CSME) and if increased CSME in minorities is due to ethnicity or other factors in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT).

Methods: CSME prevalence based on 7-field stereo fundus photographs in 1268 patients with type 2 diabetes was related to ethnicity, demographics and biochemistries by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: Hispanics (H) made up 17.

Comparison of dilated fundus examinations with seven-field stereo fundus photographs in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial.

Objective: The Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT) is a 20-medical center, prospective, randomized study of 1792 Type 2 diabetic individuals primarily aimed at determining whether intensive glycemic control prevents macrovascular events. We report a comparison of fundus photographs and ophthalmologic examination at baseline, permitting an evaluation of multiple settings similar to common clinical practice.

Research Design And Methods: A 340-patient subset had both local dilated fundus examinations and centrally read seven-field stereo fundus photographs completed within 60 days of each other (median 28 days).

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes is related to coronary artery calcium in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT).

Objective: Increasing evidence suggests that macrovascular disease and retinopathy may be more closely linked than previously believed. We determined the relationship between retinopathy and coronary atherosclerosis as measured by computed tomography-detectable coronary artery calcium (CAC).

Research Design And Methods: The cross-sectional association between CAC and retinopathy was assessed on a Veteran Affairs Diabetes Trial subsample of 204 subjects with a mean duration of type 2 diabetes of 12.

Fatty acid composition of wild anthropoid primate milks.

Fatty acids in milk reflect the interplay between species-specific physiological mechanisms and maternal diet. Anthropoid primates (apes, Old and New World monkeys) vary in patterns of growth and development and dietary strategies. Milk fatty acid profiles also are predicted to vary widely.