Kumar Shanthala, Kumara Honnavalli Nagaraj, Santhosh Kumar, Sundararaj Palanisamy
Nematology Unit, Department of Zoology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anikatty Post, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Primates. 2019 Nov;60(6):537-546. doi: 10.1007/s10329-019-00751-y. Epub 2019 Aug 29.
This study examines gastrointestinal parasites in the endangered lion-tailed macaque, which is sympatric with the bonnet macaque that has relocated from nearby towns or agriculture landscapes dominated by humans and livestock. One hundred and ninety-four fresh fecal samples from lion-tailed macaques were collected from a group located at Chiksuli in the central Western Ghats. Of these, 48.5% had at least one endoparasite taxon. The prevalence of endoparasites varied from 0 to 75.0%, and observed endoparasite taxa varied between 0 and 10 across different months. The prevalence of endoparasites decreased with increasing rainfall and with increasing average maximum temperature across months. Of the 17 endoparasite taxa, 11 were nematodes, two were cestodes, and four were protozoans. The prevalence of Ascaris sp. and Entamoeba coli was higher than the other taxa. The overall load, helminth load, and protozoan load did not differ between months. The overall endoparasite load was greater in immature macaques in all seasons. Helminth load was higher in adult males, especially in the summer. Comparing our findings with those from sympatric relocated bonnet macaques of Chiksuli (Kumar et al. in PLoS ONE 13(11):e0207495, 2018) and lion-tailed macaques of Anamalai Hills (Hussain et al. in PLoS ONE 8(5):e63685, 2013) revealed: (a) a much higher prevalence of endoparasites in lion-tailed macaques from fragments of Anamalai Hills than in lion-tailed and bonnet macaques of Chiksuli; (b) higher richness of endoparasites in both macaque species of Chiksuli than in Anamalai lion-tailed macaques; and (c) more similar composition of endoparasite taxa between the Chiksuli lion-tailed and bonnet macaques than with the Anamalai Hills lion-tailed macaques. We suggest a complete cessation of relocation of commensal animals to the wild habitat. If relocation is necessary, then individuals to be relocated should be thoroughly screened and treated to prevent transferring endoparasite infections to wild populations.
本研究调查了濒危狮尾猕猴体内的胃肠道寄生虫，该猕猴与从附近城镇或人类和牲畜主导的农业景观迁移而来的帽猴同域分布。从位于西高止山脉中部奇库苏利的一群狮尾猕猴中收集了194份新鲜粪便样本。其中，48.5%的样本至少含有一种体内寄生虫分类单元。体内寄生虫的感染率在0至75.0%之间变化，不同月份观察到的体内寄生虫分类单元在0至10个之间变化。体内寄生虫的感染率随着降雨量的增加以及各月份平均最高温度的升高而降低。在17种体内寄生虫分类单元中，11种是线虫，2种是绦虫，4种是原生动物。蛔虫属和结肠内阿米巴的感染率高于其他分类单元。总体负荷、蠕虫负荷和原生动物负荷在不同月份之间没有差异。在所有季节中，未成年猕猴的总体体内寄生虫负荷更大。成年雄性的蠕虫负荷更高，尤其是在夏季。将我们的研究结果与奇库苏利同域分布的迁移帽猴（库马尔等人，《公共科学图书馆·综合》13(11):e0207495，2018年）以及阿纳马莱山狮尾猕猴（侯赛因等人，《公共科学图书馆·综合》8(5):e63685，2013年）的研究结果进行比较后发现：(a) 来自阿纳马莱山碎片地区的狮尾猕猴体内寄生虫的感染率远高于奇库苏利的狮尾猕猴和帽猴；(b) 奇库苏利两种猕猴体内寄生虫的丰富度高于阿纳马莱山狮尾猕猴；(c) 奇库苏利狮尾猕猴和帽猴之间体内寄生虫分类单元的组成比与阿纳马莱山狮尾猕猴的更相似。我们建议完全停止将共生动物迁移到野生栖息地。如果有必要进行迁移，那么对要迁移的个体应进行全面筛查和治疗，以防止将体内寄生虫感染传播给野生种群。
