Viruses that cause mild sniffles in humans are devastating populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In some ape communities, it’s a bigger killer than habitat loss or poaching

Viruses that cause mild sniffles in humans are devastating populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In some ape communities, it’s a bigger killer than habitat loss or poaching

There was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda’s Kibale national park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die.

Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, but normally, the bodies of chimps are found long after decomposition has set in, if at all. So when Tony Goldberg, a US wildlife epidemiologist visiting Kibale, got word that an adult female named Stella had been found freshly dead, he knew this was a rare opportunity to look for an answer.

  • troed@fedia.io
    24·
    7 months ago

    “The common cold” is a name we’ve given to hundreds of different viruses where the common denominator is “less severe than the flu”.

    "Well over 200 virus strains are implicated in causing the common cold, with rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, adenoviruses and enteroviruses " - Wikipedia

    • DigitalNirvana@lemm.ee
      61·
      7 months ago

      Yes, and viral spread can be significantly hampered by wearing a mask. If tourists wore them these gorillas and chimps wouldn’t contract the viruses, and wouldn’t die. Of course the same is true for humans. We made two Yamagata strains of influenza go extinct by behavioral change. Working together we can accomplish so much.