Dataset Information

Healthy cardiovascular biomarkers across the lifespan in wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

ABSTRACT: Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are a crucial model for understanding the evolution of human health and longevity. Cardiovascular disease is a major source of mortality during ageing in humans and therefore a key issue for comparative research. Current data indicate that compared to humans, chimpanzees have proatherogenic blood lipid profiles, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in humans. However, most work to date on chimpanzee lipids come from laboratory-living populations where lifestyles diverge from a wild context. Here, we examined cardiovascular profiles in chimpanzees living in African sanctuaries, who range semi-free in large forested enclosures, consume a naturalistic diet, and generally experience conditions more similar to a wild chimpanzee lifestyle. We measured blood lipids, body weight and body fat in 75 sanctuary chimpanzees and compared them to publicly available data from laboratory-living chimpanzees from the Primate Aging Database. We found that semi-free-ranging chimpanzees exhibited lower body weight and lower levels of lipids that are risk factors for human cardiovascular disease, and that some of these disparities increased with age. Our findings support the hypothesis that lifestyle can shape health indices in chimpanzees, similar to effects observed across human populations, and contribute to an emerging understanding of human cardiovascular health in an evolutionary context. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution of the primate ageing process'.

SUBMITTER: Cole MF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7540951 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Healthy cardiovascular biomarkers across the lifespan in wild-born chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>).

Cole Megan F MF Cantwell Averill A Rukundo Joshua J Ajarova Lilly L Fernandez-Navarro Sofia S Atencia Rebeca R Rosati Alexandra G AG

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20200921 1811

Chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>) are a crucial model for understanding the evolution of human health and longevity. Cardiovascular disease is a major source of mortality during ageing in humans and therefore a key issue for comparative research. Current data indicate that compared to humans, chimpanzees have proatherogenic blood lipid profiles, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in humans. However, most work to date on chimpanzee lipids come from laboratory-living population ...[more]

PMID: 32951545

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Project description:Planning is a type of problem solving in which a course of future action is devised via mental computation. Potential advantages of planning for tool use include reduced effort to gather tools, closer alignment to an efficient tool design, and increased foraging efficiency. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in the Goualougo Triangle use a variety of different types of tools. We hypothesized that procurement strategy (brought to the termite nest, manufactured or acquired at the termite nest, or borrowed from others) reflects planning for current needs, with tool transport behavior varying by tool type and by age and sex class. It is also possible that chimpanzees anticipate the need for tools at future times, which would be evidenced by transporting multiple tool types for a sequential task. One year of video recordings at termite nests were systematically screened for tool procurement; data comprised 299 tool procurement events across 66 chimpanzees. In addition, we screened video recordings of leaf sponging and honey gathering, which resulted in another 38 procurement events. Fishing probes, which are typically used during a single visit, were typically transported to termite nests, while puncturing tools, which are durable and remain on site, were more often acquired at termite nests. Most tools transported in multiples were fishing probes, perhaps in anticipation that a single probe might not last through an entire foraging bout or might be transferred to another chimpanzee. We further documented that chimpanzees transported tool sets, comprising multiple different tool types used in sequence. Mature chimpanzees transported tools more often than did immatures. These observations suggest that chimpanzees plan tool use flexibly, reflecting the availability of raw materials and the likelihood that specific tool types will be needed for particular tasks. Developmental studies and further integration of behavioral, spatial, and archaeological data will help to illuminate the decision making and time depth of planning associated with tool technologies in living primates and hominin ancestors.

Project description:Simian immunodeficiency virus of chimpanzees (SIVcpz) is the immediate precursor to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), yet remarkably, the distribution and prevalence of SIVcpz in wild ape populations are unknown. Studies of SIVcpz infection rates in wild chimpanzees are complicated by the species' endangered status and by its geographic location in remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa. We have developed sensitive and specific urine and fecal tests for SIVcpz antibody and virion RNA (vRNA) detection and describe herein the first comprehensive prevalence study of SIVcpz infection in five wild Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii communities in east Africa. In Kibale National Park in Uganda, 31 (of 52) members of the Kanyawara community and 39 (of approximately 145) members of the Ngogo community were studied; none were found to be positive for SIVcpz infection. In Gombe National Park in Tanzania, 15 (of 20) members of the Mitumba community, 51 (of 55) members of the Kasekela community, and at least 10 (of approximately 20) members of the Kalande community were studied. Seven individuals were SIVcpz antibody and/or vRNA positive, and two others had indeterminate antibody results. Based on assay sensitivities and the numbers and types of specimens analyzed, we estimated the prevalence of SIVcpz infection to be 17% in Mitumba (95% confidence interval, 10 to 40%), 5% in Kasekela (95% confidence interval, 4 to 7%), and 30% in Kalande (95% confidence interval, 15 to 60%). For Gombe as a whole, the SIVcpz prevalence was estimated to be 13% (95% confidence interval, 7 to 25%). SIVcpz infection was confirmed in five chimpanzees by PCR amplification of partial pol and gp41/nef sequences which revealed a diverse group of viruses that formed a monophyletic lineage within the SIVcpzPts radiation. Although none of the 70 Kibale chimpanzees tested SIVcpz positive, we estimated the likelihood that a 10% or higher prevalence existed but went undetected because of sampling and assay limitations; this possibility was ruled out with 95% certainty. These results indicate that SIVcpz is unevenly distributed among P. t. schweinfurthii in east Africa, with foci or "hot spots" of SIVcpz endemicity in some communities and rare or absent infection in others. This situation contrasts with that for smaller monkey species, in which infection rates by related SIVs are generally much higher and more uniform among different groups and populations. The basis for the wide variability in SIVcpz infection rates in east African apes and the important question of SIVcpz prevalence in west central African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) remain to be elucidated.

Dataset Information

Healthy cardiovascular biomarkers across the lifespan in wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Publications

Healthy cardiovascular biomarkers across the lifespan in wild-born chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>).

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