Publicaties

Charismatic great apes have been used widely and effectively as flagship species in conservation campaigns for decades. These iconic representatives of their ecosystems could also play a role as reservoirs of several zoonotic diseases. Recently it was demonstrated that African great apes can host Leishmania parasites (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatidae). Given that this finding raised a strong negative reaction from leishmania experts and the ...

Behavioural studies on animals incorporate data on morphology, physiology and energetic status, as well as kinship and genetic information. Such measures have become the state of the art when assessing the function of a given behaviour. Zoos provide opportunities for research of a kind that is difficult to undertake in the wild. In this article several advantages of studying captive animals are highlighted; for example, accessibility, ease of ...

The high degree of endemism on Sulawesi has previously been suggested to have vicariant origins, dating back to 40 Ma. Recent studies, however, suggest that much of Sulawesi's fauna assembled over the last 15 Myr. Here, we test the hypothesis that more recent uplift of previously submerged portions of land on Sulawesi promoted diversification and that much of its faunal assemblage is much younger than the island itself. To do so, we combined ...

This volume of the International Zoo Yearbook aims to address the plight of some of the most charismatic and iconic animals we know - the non-human great apes - and to showcase the work carried out by zoological institutions, sanctuaries and their conservation partners towards improving the management, well-being and protection of great ape species both in captivity and in the wild. The contributions in this volume highlight the latest ...

The present study used abundance and habitat variables to design High Conservation Value Forests for wildlife protection. We considered great apes (Gorilla gorilla gorilla and Pan troglodytes troglodytes) as model species, and we used nest surveys, dietary analysis and botanical inventories to evaluate whether the traditional methods that use abundance data alone were consistent with the survival of the species. We assumed that setting a local ...

Measuring hunting sustainability across West/Central African forests remains a challenge. Long-term assessment of trends is crucial. Via hunter-reported surveys we collected offtake data in three villages near the Dja Biosphere Reserve (southeast Cameroon). During four months (March-June) in 2003, 2009 and 2016, we gathered information on hunters, prey species and number of carcasses brought to the three settlements. Because it was not possible ...

The composition of herbaceous vegetation was evaluated with the aim of characterizing forests at various ages of stand development. Herb stems were sampled in 250 4-m² square plots distributed within six habitat types. A total of 36 herb species belonging to 15 families were recorded. Species richness did not significantlydiffer between habitat types. Most herb species occurred in all habitat types andwere therefore generalists. However, a few ...