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  1. Abstract

    Neopterin, a product of activated white blood cells, is a marker of nonspecific inflammation that can capture variation in immune investment or disease-related immune activity and can be collected noninvasively in urine. Mounting studies in wildlife point to lifetime patterns in neopterin related to immune development, aging, and certain diseases, but rarely are studies able to assess whether neopterin can capture multiple concurrent dimensions of health and disease in a single system. We assessed the relationship between urinary neopterin stored on filter paper and multiple metrics of health and disease in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada), primates endemic to the Ethiopian highlands. We tested whether neopterin captures age-related variation in inflammation arising from developing immunity in infancy and chronic inflammation in old age, inflammation related to intramuscular tapeworm infection, helminth-induced anti-inflammatory immunomodulation, and perturbations in the gastrointestinal microbiome. We found that neopterin had a U-shaped relationship with age, no association with larval tapeworm infection, a negative relationship with metrics related to gastrointestinal helminth infection, and a negative relationship with microbial diversity. Together with growing research on neopterin and specific diseases, our results demonstrate that urinary neopterin can be a powerful tool for assessing multiple dimensions of health and disease in wildlife.

     
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  2. Abstract

    Variation in spatial and temporal distribution of resources drives animal movement patterns. Links between ecology and behavior are particularly salient for the multilevel society of hamadryas baboons, in which social units cleave and coalesce over time in response to ecological factors. Here, we used data from GPS collars to estimate home range size and assess temporal patterns of sleeping site use in a band of hamadryas baboons in Awash National Park, Ethiopia. We used GPS data derived from 2 to 3 collared baboons over three 8–12‐month collaring intervals to estimate annual and monthly home ranges using kernel density estimators (KDEs) and minimum convex polygons (MCPs). The 95% KDE home range was 64.11 km2for Collaring Interval I (July 2015–March 2016), 85.52 km2for Collaring Interval II (October 2016–October 2017), 76.43 km2for Collaring Interval III (July 2018–May 2019), and 75.25 km2across all three collaring intervals. MCP home ranges were 103.46 km2for Collaring Interval I, 97.90 km2for Collaring Interval II, 105.22 km2for Collaring Interval III, and 129.33 km2overall. Ninety‐five percent KDE home range sizes did not differ across months, nor correlate with temperature or precipitation, but monthly MCP home ranges increased with monthly precipitation. Our data also revealed a southward home range shift over time and seven previously unknown sleeping sites, three of which were used more often during the wet season. Band cohesion was highest during dry months and lowest during wet months, with fissioning occurring more frequently at higher temperatures. One pair of collared individuals from Collaring Interval III spent 95% of nights together, suggesting they were members of the same clan. Our results both suggest that previous studies have underestimated the home range size of hamadryas baboons and highlight the benefits of remote data collection.

     
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