Publications
Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Is Omnipresent in Elephants in European Zoos and an Asian Elephant Range Country Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) may cause acute, often lethal, hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD) in young elephants. Prevalence of EEHV in different elephant populations is still largely unknown. In order to improve diagnostic tools for the detection of EEHV infections and to obtain insight into its spread among elephants, we developed novel ELISAs based on EEHV1A gB and gH/gL. Performance of the ELISAs was assessed using sera from ...
Chimpanzees surviving in a fragmented high‐altitude forest landscape of the Congolese Albertine Rift University of Antwerp Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
This paper documents a community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii Giglioli, 1872) inhabiting three relict forest fragments situated on the Lake Albert escarpment, down the Ituri highlands, of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The area explored had a combined forested surface of ±18.15 km2 in 2017, shrinking by 1.2% per year between 2010 and 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, we found 160 chimpanzee nests along 37.6 ...
Chimpanzees behave prosocially in a group-specific manner Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
Effects of Enclosure and Environmental Enrichment on the Behaviour of Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
Environmental enrichment is widely used to improve the quality of life of animals under human care. To successfully implement enrichment programs, it is important to evaluate their effect in different enclosure types since housing conditions may change depending on external factors, such as husbandry, management, or seasonal variation. This study investigates how ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) behaviour changes with the availability of ...
Presence of Broad-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Zoo Mammals Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp Ghent University
Broad-spectrum beta-lactamase (BSBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae impose public health threats. With increased popularity of zoos, exotic animals are brought in close proximity of humans, making them important BSBL reservoirs. However, not much is known on the presence of BSBLs in zoos in Western Europe. Fecal carriage of BSBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae was investigated in 38 zoo mammals from two Belgian zoos. Presence of bla-genes was ...
Chimpanzee ethnography reveals unexpected cultural diversity Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
Information transfer efficiency differs in wild chimpanzees and bonobos, but not social cognition Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
Several theories have been generated to understand the socio-cognitive mechanisms underlying the unique cooperative abilities of humans. The 'interdependence hypothesis' posits first, that the cognitive dimension of human cooperation evolved in contexts when several individuals needed to act together to achieve a common goal, like when hunting large prey. Second, the more interdependent individuals are, the more likely they are to provide ...
Drawn out of the shadows: Surveying secretive forest species with camera trap distance sampling Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp
With animal species disappearing at unprecedented rates, we need an efficient monitoring method providing reliable estimates of population density and abundance, critical for the assessment of population status and trend.
We deployed 160 camera traps (CTs) systematically over 743 locations covering 17,127 km2 of evergreen lowland rainforest of Salonga National Park, block South, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We evaluated the ...
We deployed 160 camera traps (CTs) systematically over 743 locations covering 17,127 km2 of evergreen lowland rainforest of Salonga National Park, block South, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We evaluated the ...