Identifying hotspots of chimpanzee group activity from transect surveys in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire

Locating activity hotspots - areas of higher density, more intense use, or distinct social units - is a prerequisite for answering many questions in animal ecology. However, for many species, carrying out such research from direct observations in tropical habitat is time-consuming and unrealistic for non-habituated animals. This study aimed to locate chimpanzee home ranges from transect nest counts. For validation purposes, 233 line transects were sampled within the home ranges of four habituated social groups of chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. In total, 373 km of transects were surveyed over 188 days and 683 nests of chimpanzee were recorded. First, we characterized heterogeneity of nest distribution patterns, including variation in density and group size within the area. Second, we used scan statistics, a likelihood-based cluster technique to locate chimpanzee social groups and compared them with the known home range boundaries. Chimpanzee nest distribution was characterized by a positive density and group-size gradient away from the range periphery. Furthermore, nest distribution clusters corresponding to the four groups could be successfully identified, although additional clusters for, for example, low-density areas between social groups seem to be an unavoidable by-product. The approach taken can be extended to a wide spectrum of data stemming from direct observations, camera traps, acoustic or genetic sampling to derive information about structure and patchiness of wild animal population

The Price of Play: Self-Organized Infant Mortality Cycles in Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees have been used extensively as a model system for laboratory research on infectious diseases. Ironically, we know next to nothing about disease dynamics in wild chimpanzee populations. Here, we analyze long-term demographic and behavioral data from two habituated chimpanzee communities in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, where previous work has shown respiratory pathogens to be an important source of infant mortality. In this paper we trace the effect of social connectivity on infant mortality dynamics. We focus on social play which, as the primary context of contact between young chimpanzees, may serve as a key venue for pathogen transmission. Infant abundance and mortality rates at Taï cycled regularly and in a way that was not well explained in terms of environmental forcing. Rather, infant mortality cycles appeared to self-organize in response to the ontogeny of social play. Each cycle started when the death of multiple infants in an outbreak synchronized the reproductive cycles of their mothers. A pulse of births predictably arrived about twelve months later, with social connectivity increasing over the following two years as the large birth cohort approached the peak of social play. The high social connectivity at this play peak then appeared to facilitate further outbreaks. Our results provide the first evidence that social play has a strong role in determining chimpanzee disease transmission risk and the first record of chimpanzee disease cycles similar to those seen in human children. They also lend more support to the view that infectious diseases are a major threat to the survival of remaining chimpanzee populations

Listening and watching: do camera traps or acoustic sensors more efficiently detect wild chimpanzees in an open habitat?

1. With one million animal species at risk of extinction, there is an urgent need to regularly monitor threatened species. However, in practice this is challenging, especially with wide-ranging, elusive and cryptic species or those that occur at low density. 2. Here we compare two non-invasive methods, passive acoustic monitoring (n=12) and camera trapping (n=53), to detect chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a savanna-woodland mosaic habitat at the Issa Valley, Tanzania. With occupancy modelling we evaluate the efficacy of each method, using the estimated number of sampling days needed to establish chimpanzee absence with 95% probability, as our measure of efficacy. 3. Passive acoustic monitoring was more efficient than camera trapping in detecting wild chimpanzees. Detectability varied over seasons, likely due to social and ecological factors that influence party size and vocalization rate. The acoustic method can infer chimpanzee absence with less than ten days of recordings in the field during the late dry season, the period of highest detectability, which was five times faster than the visual method. 4. Synthesis and applications: Despite some technical limitations, we demonstrate that passive acoustic monitoring is a powerful tool for species monitoring. Its applicability in evaluating presence/absence, especially but not exclusively for loud call species, such as cetaceans, elephants, gibbons or chimpanzees provides a more efficient way of monitoring populations and inform conservation plans to mediate species-loss

Pan paniscus (errata version published in 2016)

Due to high levels of illegal hunting, and habitat destruction and degradation,Pan paniscusis estimated to have experienced a significant population reduction in the last 15–20 years and it is thought that this reduction will continue for the next 60 years. Currently, by far the greatest threat to the Bonobo's survival is poaching for the commercial bushmeat trade. It has been estimated that nine tons of bushmeat are extracted daily from a 50,000-km² conservation landscape within the Bonobo’s range. Not only is there is a massive demand for bushmeat stemming from the cities, but rebel factions and poorly-paid government soldiers add to that demand, at the same time facilitating the flow of guns and ammunition (Fruthet al. 2013). In some areas, local taboos against eating Bonobo meat still exist, but in others, these traditions are disintegrating due to changing cultural values and population movements. Stricter enforcement of wildlife laws and more effective management are urgently needed. Habitat loss through deforestation and fragmentation ranks second. Much of the forest loss in this region is caused by slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture, which is most intense where human densities are high or growing. Logging and mining do not yet occur on an industrial scale in the Bonobo’s range, but in future, industrial agriculture is very likely to become a serious threat. Minimising the conversion of intact forest to human-dominated land uses, will be critical for the future survival of Bonobos. Countrywide factors contributing to the decline include the mobility of growing human populations, opening markets, commercial exploitation of natural resources and road construction. As in the past, the survival of Bonobos will be determined by the levels of poaching and forest loss—threats that have been shown to accompany rapid growth in human populations and political instability (Nackoneyet al. 2014). Due to their slow life history and a generation time estimated to be 25 years, Bonobo populations cannot withstand high levels of offtake. The population decline over a three-generation (75 year) period from 2003 to 2078 is likely to exceed 50%, hence qualifying this taxon as Endangered under criterion A

The Use of Swear Words by Junior High School Students 1 at Kotabaru Karawang West Java

Dalam setiap bahasa terdapat kata-kata yang dianggap tidak sopan untuk dikatakan kepada lawan bicara. Kata-kata tersebut mengacu kepada kata-kata yang mengandung makian dan sumpah serapah, serta memiliki konotasi kasar dan tabu untuk diucapkan dalam situasi formal. Dalam era globalisasi ini, banyak remaja khususnya remaja Sekolah menengah Pertama yang menggunakan umpatan dalam komunikasi mereka sehari-hari. Oleh karena itu, penulis tergugah untuk menganalisis fenomena penggunaan kata umpatan oleh siswa SMPN 1 di wilayah Kotabaru Karawang. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menunjukkan dan menganalisis penggunaan kata umpatan yang digunakan oleh siswa SMP mengacu kepada teori Sosiolinguistik yang dikemukakan oleh Janet Holmes. Kata-kata umpatan yang diproduksi oleh siswa merupakan penelitian yang bersifat deskriptif dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Penulis mengambil data dengan teknik purposive sampling sehingga penulis mendapat data sebanyak 25 kata umpatan yang dalam pengumpulan datanya dibagi menjadi 2 tahap yaitu wawancara dan observasi. Penulis juga menggunakan teknik Simak Bebas Libat Cakap dan teknik catat ketika mengobservasi tuturan umpatan yang digunakan oleh siswa. Dalam mewawancarai siswa, penulis menggunakan teknik rekam untuk menjaga keaslian data. Dari hasil pengumpulan data, penulis mendapatkan 16 tuturan umpatan yang diperoleh dengan cara mewawancarai siswa dan 9 tuturan umpatan yang diperoleh dengan cara observasi di sekolah. Sebagian besar kata – kata umpatan dituturkan oleh siswa laki – laki. Namun ada beberapa tuturan umpatan yang diproduksi oleh siswa perempuan ketika mengumpat dengan teman sebayanya. Dari hasil observasi, penulis menemukan kata – kata umpatan yang digunakan siswa kepada temannya hanya pada latar informal. Walaupun ada seorang murid yang mengaku bahwa dirinya pernah mengumpat pada saat terdapat guru di dalam kelas, hal itu tidak lebih dari sekedar lelucon belaka. Secara garis besar, topik ketika siswa mengumpat kepada temannya hanya sebagai bahan lelucon. Meskipun ada beberapa tuturan umpatan yang mempunyai topik kemarahan, sebagian besar umpatan yang digunakan siswa mempunyai fungsi ekspresif

The Critically Endangered western chimpanzee declines by 80%

African large mammals are under extreme pressure from unsustainable hunting and habitat loss. Certain traits make large mammals particularly vulnerable. These include late age at first reproduction, long inter-birth intervals, and low population density. Great apes are a prime example of such vulnerability, exhibiting all of these traits. Here we assess the rate of population change for the western chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes verus, over a 24-year period. As a proxy for change in abundance, we used transect nest count data from 20 different sites archived in the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database, representing 25,000 of the estimated remaining 35,000 western chimpanzees. For each of the 20 sites, datasets for 2 different years were available. We estimated site-specific and global population change using Generalized Linear Models. At 12 of these sites, we detected a significant negative trend. The estimated change in the subspecies abundance, as approximated by nest encounter rate, yielded a 6% annual decline and a total decline of 80.2% over the study period from 1990 to 2014. This also resulted in a reduced geographic range of 20% (657,600 vs. 524,100 km2). Poverty, civil conflict, disease pandemics, agriculture, extractive industries, infrastructure development, and lack of law enforcement, are some of the many reasons for the magnitude of threat. Our status update triggered the uplisting of the western chimpanzee to “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List. In 2017, IUCN will start updating the 2003 Action Plan for western chimpanzees and will provide a consensus blueprint for what is needed to save this subspecies. We make a plea for greater commitment to conservation in West Africa across sectors. Needed especially is more robust engagement by national governments, integration of conservation priorities into the private sector and development planning across the region and sustained financial support from donors.Additional co-authors: Emma Normand, Kathryn Shutt-Phillips, Alexander Tickle, Elleni Vendras, Adam Welsh, Erin G. Wessling, Christophe Boesc

Automatic Individual Identification of Patterned Solitary Species Based on Unlabeled Video Data

The manual processing and analysis of videos from camera traps is time-consuming and includes several steps, ranging from the filtering of falsely triggered footage to identifying and re-identifying individuals. In this study, we developed a pipeline to automatically analyze videos from camera traps to identify individuals without requiring manual interaction. This pipeline applies to animal species with uniquely identifiable fur patterns and solitary behavior, such as leopards (Panthera pardus). We assumed that the same individual was seen throughout one triggered video sequence. With this assumption, multiple images could be assigned to an individual for the initial database filling without pre-labeling. The pipeline was based on well-established components from computer vision and deep learning, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) features. We augmented this basis by implementing additional components to substitute otherwise required human interactions. Based on the similarity between frames from the video material, clusters were formed that represented individuals bypassing the open set problem of the unknown total population. The pipeline was tested on a dataset of leopard videos collected by the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf) and achieved a success rate of over 83% for correct matches between previously unknown individuals. The proposed pipeline can become a valuable tool for future conservation projects based on camera trap data, reducing the work of manual analysis for individual identification, when labeled data is unavailable

Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest

Anthrax is a globally important animal disease and zoonosis. Despite this, our current knowledge of anthrax ecology is largely limited to arid ecosystems, where outbreaks are most commonly reported. Here we show that the dynamics of an anthrax-causing agent, Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, in a tropical rainforest have severe consequences for local wildlife communities. Using data and samples collected over three decades, we show that rainforest anthrax is a persistent and widespread cause of death for a broad range of mammalian hosts. We predict that this pathogen will accelerate the decline and possibly result in the extirpation of local chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) populations. We present the epidemiology of a cryptic pathogen and show that its presence has important implications for conservation