The Feeding Game

Bachelor #1 – Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus atys) : This lovely gentleman is a hearty primate with the ability to exploit very difficult foods. His diet is very broad and he has simple anatomy that allow him to eat pretty much anything.

Bachelor #2 – Diana Monkey (Cercopithecus diana) : Mr. Diana is a ripe-fruit specialist, who regularly employs his cheek pouch to store precious fruit for later. Although he sometimes supplements his diets with leaves, Mr. Diana’s gut is simple without too much bacterial activity.

Bachelor #3 – Red Colobus (Piliocolobus badius) : Don’t let the fierce red color of his pelage fool you, this young man is not very competitive for his food. Badius relies on a narrow window of food and is not able to persist anywhere other than pristine forests. His gut is very complex with very specialized gut bacteria.

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Contestant Backgrounds — Habitat: Over the past few years, the home of our three bachelors has experienced major transformations, including reductions in rainfall and habitat fragmentation. Deforestation and less water availability has reduced the total amount of food resource diversity, leaving our gentlemen high and dry. They must use more energy to find their food, and figure out how to continue regular patterns of digestion. The contestant that is most resilient to changes in his diet is expected to win “The Feeding Game” and be more persistent in the face of climate change.

Contestant Qualities — Digestion & Metabolism: All of our bachelor primates use the process of fermentation to aid the digestion of their desired food sources. During fermentation, gut bacteria degrade the cell walls of plants in order to release the nutrients they need to win “The Feeding Game.” Their bacteria must be efficient and diverse enough to break down lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and other minerals in the plants. The most common nutrient that poses problems to our contestants is the carbohydrate because these complex sugars, or polysaccharides, must be broken down before they can be used.The Kreb’s Cycle breaks down glucose and produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP = energy!) and is the basic process for metabolic functioning in vertebrates. Once the plants have been broken down, their phytochemical properties can be used for the Kreb’s cycle to produce ATP. 

 

Who Wins? Primates that live in changing forests often need to adjust their diets. Not only does this affect their energetics but also their entire fermentation process. Different diets actually lead to different gut microbiomes; reduced microbiota diversity and efficiency can lead to poor health outcomes for our hosts. Red colobus that live in highly degraded forests have lower gut microbiota and higher levels of disease. Primates with more resilient and diverse colonies of bacteria in their guts may be better equipped to deal with changes in food availability. It seems as though Bachelor #1, the Sooty Mangabey, is our frontrunner! Conservation efforts should focus on Bachelors 2 and 3 to make sure they are getting the proper nutrients.

 

Literature Cited:
Amato, KR, CJ Yeoman, A Kent, N Righini, F Carbonero, A Estrada, HR Gaskins, RM Stumpf, S Yildirim, M Torralba, M Gillis, BA Wilson, KE Nelson, BA White, and SR Leigh. 2013. Habitat degradation impacts black howler monkey. International Society for Microbial Ecology 7: 1344-1353.
Amato, KR, R Martinez-Mota, N Righini, M Raguet-Schofield, FP Corcione, E Marini, G Humphrey, G Gogul, J Gaffney, E Lovelace, L Williams. A Luong, MG Dominguez-Bello, RM Stumpf, B White, KE Nelson, R Knight, and SR Leigh. 2016. Phylogenetic and ecological factors impact the gut microbiota of two Neotropical primate species. Oecologia 180: 717-733.
Barelli, C, D Albanese, C Donato, M Pindo, C Dallago, F Rovero, D Cavalieri, KM Tuohy, HC Hauffe and CD Fillippo. 2015. Habitat fragmentation is associated to gut microbiota diversity of an endangered primate: implications for conservation. Scientific Reports 5 (14862): 1-12.
Bauchop, T. 1971. Stomach Microbiology of Primates. Annual Review of Microbiology 25: 429-436.
Hooper, LA, DR Littman, and AJ Macpherson. 2012. Interactions between the microbiota and the immune system. Science 336: 1268-1273.
Lambert, JE. 1998. Primate digestion: Interactions among anatomy, physiology, and feeding ecology. Evolutionary Anthropology 7: 8-20.

 

Photos:
Erin Kane (personal communication)
Modification of “The Dating Game” official logo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dating_Game)

Ecotourism in Virunga: Yea or Nay?

You’re Invited!

Who: Primate Lovers, Eco-Tourists, Conservation Directors, Students of Applied Physiology

What: An open panel to discuss the benefits and consequences of high-volume ecotourism

Where: Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. This mountain range is a chain of volcanoes in Eastern Africa and is home to the mountain Gorilla. Gorilla gorilla beringei have a restricted range within the mountainous forests of eastern DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda. This subspecies is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List (2017) and is highly reliant on the pristine forests in the Virunga mountains.

When: Summer, 2017

WhyEcotourism can be a potentially valuable source for conservation efforts by bringing in money to national parks, preserving pristine areas, and of course inspiring love and curiosity for endangered animals. Unfortunately, there are many downsides to the business for resident primate populations, who can be particularly susceptible to disease. Not only are many diseases transmittable from humans to primates and vice versa (such as tuberculosis, rabies, and the common flu), but ecotourism has been shown to raise chronic stress levels in primates that have regular exposure to human presence.

The endocrine system tightly regulates homeostasis through regular processes including the stress response. Homeostasis, the internal regulation of multiple bodily systems, is vital for survival. When external stressors are received, a hormone cascade triggers the release of various hormones known as glucocorticoids involved in metabolism in order to mobilize some response. Chronic exposure to external stressors, such as the noise or pollution from ecotourism, has been shown to increase susceptibility to diseases. Animals in close proximity to human presence – such as gorillas in Virunga National Park – have higher frequencies of chronic and parasitic diseases that stem from suppressed immune functioning. These risks, combined with disease transmission from a high-volume of human tourists puts an already endangered animal at a compounded risk. During our much-anticipated panel with highly esteemed primatologists and conservation biologists, we will discuss how to combat these problems. On the schedule includes programs such as:

  • How to maintain safe distances while still enjoying the beauty of Virunga and the mountain gorillas
  • Safety procedures and proper usage of personal protective equipment during excursions
  • Other opportunities to experience gorillas without disrupting their natural habitat

The View from Virunga Lodge

 

Interested? Here are other sources:

 

Literature Cited:

Costantini D, Marasco V, Moller AP (2011) A meta-analysis of glucocorticoids as modulators of oxidative stress in vertebrates. J Comp Physiol 181: 447-456.

Ditchkoff SS, Saalfeld ST, Gibson CJ (2006) Animal behavior in urban ecosystems: modifications due to human-induced stress. Urban Ecosyst 9: 5-12.

Laudati A (2010) Ecotourism: the modern predator? Implications of gorilla tourism on local livelihoods in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Environ & Plann D: Society & Space 28: 726-743.

McNeilage A (1996) Ecotourism and mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes In The exploitation of mammal populations. Netherlands: Springer, Pp 334-344.

Shutt K, Heistermann M, Kasim A, Todd A, Kalousova B, Profosuva I, Petzelkova K, Fuh T (2014) Effects of habituation, research and ecotourism on faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in wild western lowland gorillas: Implications for conservation management. Biol Conserv 172: 72-79.

Photos:

 

  1. Sabine Bresser, Flickr Creative Commons: (view original here)
  2. Andrew Doherty, Flickr Creative Commons: (view original here)
  3. Bruce Davidson, Arkive: http://www.arkive.org/western-gorilla/gorilla-gorilla/