Transport of dead infant mountain gorillas by mothers and unrelated females

This report describes prolonged carriage of the corpses of two mountain gorilla infants by both related and unrelated adult females. Two hypotheses regarding this transport are considered: 1) that maternal behavior toward unrelated infants may be a by-product of the hormonal condition of pregnancy, and 2) that the animals may be ‘‘learning to mother,’’ as nulliparous females could benefit from the experience of handling an infant that is no longer alive. Some factors pertinent to the event of infant deaths in captivity are considered

Carriage of Infants by a Silverback Mountain Gorilla

First paragraph: A previously unreported behaviour in mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) studied at the Karisoke Research Centre, Rwanda, is described in this paper. The silverback, Pablo, was seen carrying an infant in front of another silverback, Cantsbee. There is great interspecific and intraspecific variation in male primate interactions with immatures [1, 2]. Amongst the great apes, silverback mountain gorillas [3, 4] and adult male orangutans [5] rarely interact with infants, adult male chimpanzees transport and play with infants to varying degrees [6]. Two hypotheses are proposed to explain Pablo's behaviour: agonistic buffering [7] and paternal investment [8]

Devastating Decline of Forest Elephants in Central Africa.

African forest elephants– taxonomically and functionally unique–are being poached at accelerating rates, but we lack range-wide information on the repercussions. Analysis of the largest survey dataset ever assembled for forest elephants (80 foot-surveys; covering 13,000 km; 91,600 person-days of fieldwork) revealed that population size declined by ca. 62% between 2002–2011, and the taxon lost 30% of its geographical range. The population is now less than 10% of its potential size, occupying less than 25% of its potential range. High human population density, hunting intensity, absence of law enforcement, poor governance, and proximity to expanding infrastructure are the strongest predictors of decline. To save the remaining African forest elephants, illegal poaching for ivory and encroachment into core elephant habitat must be stopped. In addition, the international demand for ivory, which fuels illegal trade, must be dramatically reduced

Threats impact levels to 98 tropical African protected areas at a continental and regional scale.

<p>Clockwise from top: Africa (a), Central Africa (b), East Africa (c) and West Africa (d).</p

Influence of tourism activities and PA size on threat level in 83 PAs.

<p>In bold are highlighted significant values (p <i><0.05</i>). See abbreviations in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0114154#pone-0114154-t002" target="_blank">Tab 2</a>. AIC, Akaike's Information Criterion; AICw, Akaike Information Criterion weight; Rank, model rank from the smallest to the largest AIC value; k, number of variables including the intercept.</p><p>Influence of tourism activities and PA size on threat level in 83 PAs.</p

Influence of research activities and PA size on threat level in 92 PAs.

<p>In bold are highlighted significant values (p <i><0.05</i>). See abbreviations in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0114154#pone-0114154-t002" target="_blank">Tab 2</a>. AIC, Akaike's Information Criterion; AICw, Akaike Information Criterion weight; Rank, model rank from the smallest to the largest AIC value; k, number of variables including the intercept.</p><p>Influence of research activities and PA size on threat level in 92 PAs.</p