UMR7206, Eco-Anthropologie, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle/CNRS/Paris VII, 17 place du Trocadéro, Paris, France; Sebitoli Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda.
Human Biomonitoring Research Unit, Department of Precision Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), 1 A-B, Rue Thomas Edison, L-1445 Strassen, Luxembourg.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Mar 15;233:113341. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113341. Epub 2022 Feb 23.
Wildlife is increasingly exposed to environmental pollution, but data illustrating to what extent this exposure can impact health and survival of endangered species is missing. In humans, hair matrix analysis is a reliable tool for assessing cumulative exposure to organic pollutants such as pesticides but has rarely been used in other primates for this purpose. LC/MS-MS and GC/MS-MS multi-residue methods were used to screen the presence of 152 organic pollutants and their metabolites belonging to 21 different chemical families in hair samples from our closest relative, the chimpanzee. Samples were collected from 20 wild chimpanzees in Sebitoli, Kibale National Park, Uganda and 9 captive chimpanzees in the Réserve Africaine de Sigean, France. In total, 90 chemicals were detected, 60 in wild chimpanzees and 79 in captive chimpanzees. The median concentrations of detected chemicals in captive individuals were significantly higher than those in wild chimpanzees. Hair from the captive individuals at RAS was sampled a second time after 6 months in an environment of reduced exposure to these pollutants (diet of organic food, decreased use of plastic food and water containers). The number of chemicals detected in captive chimpanzees reduced from 79 to 63, and their concentrations were also significantly reduced. In the present study we report for the first time the use of hair analysis to detect organic pollutants in primate hair. We conclude that both wild and captive chimpanzees are exposed to a large range of different chemicals through their diet. Our study provides surprising and alarming evidence that besides the direct threats of poaching, deforestation and diseases, wild chimpanzees might be endangered by indirect consequences of anthropic activities. As chimpanzees are our closest relatives, our results should be considered as an alert for human health as well.
野生动物越来越多地暴露于环境污染之下，但缺乏数据表明这种暴露程度会对濒危物种的健康和生存造成何种影响。在人类中，毛发基质分析是评估有机污染物（如农药）累积暴露的可靠工具，但在其他灵长类动物中很少用于此目的。我们使用 LC/MS-MS 和 GC/MS-MS 多残留方法筛选了来自我们最近的亲缘物种——黑猩猩毛发样本中 21 种不同化学家族的 152 种有机污染物及其代谢物的存在情况。这些样本是从乌干达基巴莱国家公园的 Sebitoli 采集的 20 只野生黑猩猩和法国的 Réserve Africaine de Sigean 中的 9 只圈养黑猩猩的毛发中采集的。总共检测到 90 种化学物质，其中 60 种在野生黑猩猩中，79 种在圈养黑猩猩中。圈养个体中检测到的化学物质的中位数浓度明显高于野生黑猩猩。在环境中减少接触这些污染物（有机食物饮食、减少使用塑料食物和水容器） 6 个月后，再次从 RAS 的圈养个体中采集毛发样本。圈养黑猩猩中检测到的化学物质数量从 79 种减少到 63 种，其浓度也显著降低。本研究首次报告了使用毛发分析来检测灵长类动物毛发中的有机污染物。我们得出结论，野生和圈养黑猩猩都通过饮食接触到了广泛的不同化学物质。我们的研究提供了令人惊讶和警惕的证据，除了偷猎、森林砍伐和疾病等直接威胁外，野生黑猩猩可能还会受到人类活动的间接影响而濒危。由于黑猩猩是我们最近的亲缘物种，我们的研究结果也应被视为对人类健康的警示。
