Exotic animal cafés in Japan: A new fashion with potential implications for biodiversity, global health, and animal welfare

日本のエキゾチックアニマルカフェ調査 --加熱する現象の解剖と懸念される影響--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-03-30.Wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar industry and concerns not only the exploitation of animals for their body parts but is also largely fueled by the demand for exotic pets. We document, in Japan, a recent phenomenon closely related to the pet trade and rapidly spreading in Asia: the display of exotic animals in a café/bar context. We surveyed 142 exotic animal cafés (EACs) by visiting their website and/or social media accounts. We recorded every available exotic animal species, their status based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and Appendix according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We compared the CITES Appendix-listed species imported in Japan during 1975–2019 to the species present in EACs. Most EACs opened in major cities between 2015 and 2017 under the label “owl café.” We recorded 3793 individuals belonging to 419 different species in 137 EACs active in 2019. The most numerous exotic animals were birds (62% – owls 40%) but reptiles (21%), mammals (15%) and to a lesser extent, amphibians (2%) were also found. A total of 403 individuals belonged to 52 threatened species. The majority (60%) of the species identified were CITES-listed (Appendix I: 53 individuals, 9 species; Appendix II:2482 individuals, 235 species and Appendix III:16 individuals, 6 species). While most species present in EACs are mainly imported as “captive bred” in Japan, we found 30 species that were mainly imported as “wild-caught, ” “ranched” or “farmed.” The increase of importations of owl species is concomitant with the openings of EACs, reflecting the demand for owls in Japan. We argue that these EACs promoted through social media: (1) might have consequences for biodiversity as they encourage the purchase of exotic animals and represent a pool of potentially invasive species with their pathogens; (2) present a risk of pathogen transmission due to frequent close interactions with consumers; and (3) raise serious concerns about animal welfare

Exploring the effects of disgust-related images on cognition in chimpanzees

Sensory stimuli can mediate cognition and behavior in different ways. In humans, chemosensory threat cues enhance performance and increase vigilance. In non-human primates, visual, olfactory and even tactile cues of biological contaminants elicit avoidance behaviors, i.e. manifestations of the adaptive system of disgust in humans. Nevertheless, how contaminant sensory cues may affect cognitive processes in non-human primates remains largely unexplored. We tested how visual cues suggesting pathogen presence may affect cognitive performance in chimpanzees. We used disgust-related images displayed at regular intervals during a number ordering task on touch screens. Images of carcasses provoked more errors following their display compared to control and other condition images (i.e. invertebrates and food). Our results support the hypothesis that visual disgust elicitors decrease performance by distracting individuals. Future studies should determine whether cognitive responses evolved differently across threat contexts (fear vs. disgust) given their differences in outcomes (death vs. disease)

Faecal avoidance differs between the sexes but not with nematode infection risk in mandrills

International audienceAnimals have evolved a wide range of behaviours that act as barriers to decrease the risk of parasite infection. Faecal avoidance may, for example, limit contact with orofaecally transmitted parasites, such as gastrointestinal nematodes. When present in faeces, however, nematode eggs need to mature before reaching their infective stage. If strategies have evolved in hosts to specifically avoid nematodes, old faeces with infective larvae should elicit stronger avoidance behaviour than fresh faeces that contain noninfective stages. Here, we carried out two experiments to test the hypothesis that mandrills, Mandrillus sphinx, an Old-World primate, exhibit specific behavioural strategies to avoid nematode infection. Our results show that individuals did not avoid faeces in a nonfeeding context but did avoid eating food items contaminated with faecal material, females more so than males. However, neither the presence of nematodes nor the age of faeces influenced the level of avoidance observed, suggesting that mandrills avoid faecal material in general rather than nematodes specifically when foraging

Modeling infection transmission in primate networks to predict centrality-based risk

International audienceSocial structure can theoretically regulate disease risk by mediating exposure to pathogens via social proximity and contact. Investigating the role of central individuals within a network may help predict infectious agent transmission as well as implement disease control strategies, but little is known about such dynamics in real primate networks. We combined social network analysis and a modeling approach to better understand transmission of a theoretical infectious agent in wild Japanese macaques, highly social animals which form extended but highly differentiated social networks. We collected focal data from adult females living on the islands of Koshima and Yakushima, Japan. Individual identities as well as grooming networks were included in a Markov graph-based simulation. In this model, the probability that an individual will transmit an infectious agent depends on the strength of its relationships with other group members. Similarly, its probability of being infected depends on its relationships with already infected group members. We correlated: (i) the percentage of subjects infected during a latency-constrained epidemic; (ii) the mean latency to complete transmission; (iii) the probability that an individual is infected first among all group members; and (iv) each individual's mean rank in the chain of transmission with different individual network centralities (eigenvector, strength, betweenness). Our results support the hypothesis that more central individuals transmit infections in a shorter amount of time and to more subjects but also become infected more quickly than less central individuals. However, we also observed that the spread of infectious agents on the Yakushima network did not always differ from expectations of spread on random networks. Generalizations about the importance of observed social networks in pathogen flow should thus be made with caution, since individual characteristics in some real world networks appear less relevant than they are in others in predicting disease sprea

Conservation communautaire en Afrique Centrale (RDC) : de la pratique de terrain aux cadres institutionnels

International audienc

Disgust in animals and the application of disease avoidance to wildlife management and conservation

International audienceDisgust is an adaptive system hypothesized to have evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. It is associated with behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses tuned to allow animals to avoid and/or get rid of parasites, pathogens and toxins. Little is known about the mechanisms and outcomes of disease avoidance in wild animals. Furthermore, given the escalation of negative human-wildlife interactions, the translation of such knowledge into the design of evolutionarily relevant conservation and wildlife management strategies is becoming urgent. Contemporary methods in animal ecology and related fields, using direct (sensory cues) or indirect (remote sensing technologies and machine learning) means, provide a flexible toolbox for testing and applying disgust at individual and collective levels. In this review/perspective paper, we provide an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviours across species, from the least to the most social, in different habitats. We predict various trade-offs to be at play depending on the social system and ecology of the species. We propose five contexts in which disgust-related avoidance behaviours could be applied, including endangered species rehabilitation, invasive species, crop-raiding, urban pests and animal tourism. We highlight some of the perspectives and current challenges of testing disgust in the wild. In particular, we recommend future studies to consider together disease, predation and competition risks. We discuss the ethics associated with disgust experiments in the above contexts. Finally, we promote the creation of a database gathering disease avoidance evidence in animals and its applications.Le dégoût est un système adaptatif supposé avoir évolué afin de réduire le risque de tomber malade. Il est associé à des réponses comportementales, cognitives et physiologiques adaptées pour permettre aux animaux d'éviter et/ou de se débarrasser des parasites, pathogènes et toxines. On sait peu de choses sur les mécanismes et les conséquences de l'évitement des maladies chez les animaux sauvages. Étant donné l'escalade des interactions négatives entre humains et faune, la traduction de ces connaissances dans la conception de stratégies de conservation et de gestion de la faune - prenant en considération l'évolution des espèces - devient urgente. Les méthodes contemporaines en écologie animale et dans les domaines connexes, utilisant des moyens directs (indices sensoriels) ou indirects (technologies de télédétection et apprentissage automatique), fournissent une boîte à outils flexible pour tester et appliquer le dégoût aux niveaux individuel et collectif. Dans cet article de revue/perspective, nous fournissons un cadre empirique pour tester la fonction adaptative du dégoût et les comportements associés d'évitement des maladies chez différentes espèces - des moins sociales aux plus sociales, et dans différents habitats. Nous prédisons divers compromis en fonction du système social et de l'écologie de l'espèce. Nous proposons cinq contextes dans lesquels les comportements d'évitement liés au dégoût pourraient être appliqués: la réhabilitation d'espèces menacées; les espèces envahissantes; les dommages aux cultures; les nuisibles urbains; et le tourisme animalier. Nous mettons en avant certaines perspectives et défis actuels de l'expérimentation sur le dégoût en milieu naturel. En particulier, nous recommandons la considération de plusieurs risques ensemble: maladie, prédation et compétition. Nous discutons également de l'éthique associée aux expériences sur le dégoût dans les contextes ci-dessus. Enfin, nous promouvons la création d'une base de données rassemblant les stratégies d'évitement des maladies chez les animaux et leurs applications

Disgust in animals and the application of disease avoidance to wildlife management and conservation

1. Disgust is an adaptive system hypothesized to have evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. It is associated with behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses tuned to allow animals to avoid and/or get rid of parasites, pathogens and toxins. 2. Little is known about the mechanisms and outcomes of disease avoidance in wild animals. Furthermore, given the escalation of negative human-wildlife interactions, the translation of such knowledge into the design of evolutionarily relevant conservation and wildlife management strategies is becoming urgent. 3. Contemporary methods in animal ecology and related fields, using direct (sensory cues) or indirect (remote sensing technologies and machine learning) means, provide a flexible toolbox for testing and applying disgust at individual and collective levels. 4. In this review/perspective paper, we provide an empirical framework for testing the adaptive function of disgust and its associated disease avoidance behaviours across species, from the least to the most social, in different habitats. We predict various trade-offs to be at play depending on the social system and ecology of the species. 5. We propose five contexts in which disgust-related avoidance behaviours could be applied, including endangered species rehabilitation, invasive species, crop-raiding, urban pests and animal tourism. 6. We highlight some of the perspectives and current challenges of testing disgust in the wild. In particular, we recommend future studies to consider together disease, predation and competition risks. We discuss the ethics associated with disgust experiments in the above contexts. Finally, we promote the creation of a database gathering disease avoidance evidence in animals and its applications.Survival is a disgusting matter: Lifting the veil on disease avoidance strategies in multiple animal species. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-04-06