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Strongylid infection varies with age, sex, movement and social factors in wild African elephants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2020

Jenna M. Parker Open the ORCID record for Jenna M. Parker [Opens in a new window] ,
Shifra Z. Goldenberg ,
David Letitiya  and
George Wittemyer
Jenna M. Parker*
Affiliation:
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology and Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, 1474 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO80523, USA Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, Nairobi00200, Kenya
Shifra Z. Goldenberg
Affiliation:
Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, Nairobi00200, Kenya Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA22630, Kenya Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA92027, USA
David Letitiya
Affiliation:
Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, Nairobi00200, Kenya
George Wittemyer
Affiliation:
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology and Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, 1474 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO80523, USA Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, Nairobi00200, Kenya
*
Author for correspondence: Jenna M. Parker, E-mail: jennaparker13@gmail.com
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Abstract

Comparing parasitic infection among individuals of wildlife populations can provide insight into factors that influence wildlife disease ecology. Strongylids are parasitic worms that infect the intestinal tract of vertebrates, and infection with strongylids can be approximated by counting strongylid eggs in dung samples. Here we tested for correlations between strongylid egg counts and 18 different individual characteristics, environmental and social factors in individually known wild African elephants. We counted more eggs in the dung samples of younger elephants and females relative to mature elephants and males. We also found that elephants spending more time outside reserves shed more strongylid eggs than elephants that were more often within reserves. Elephants that were less socially integrated, as measured by how much aggression they received from other elephants, shed fewer strongylid eggs; relatedly, socially isolated orphan elephants that had left their family shed fewer strongylid eggs than elephants that remained with their family. Our results suggest that landscapes altered by livestock grazing and social disruption caused by humans may impact parasitic infection in wildlife.

Keywords

Conservationdisease ecologyfaecal egg countsgastrointestinal nematodelivestock grazingLoxodonta africanaorphanparasitismpoachingsocial networks
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 147 , Issue 3 , March 2020 , pp. 348 - 359
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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