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ABODE

Current Fieldwork

Banded Mongooses

Past Fieldwork

Limpopo bushveld
Serengeti cheetah
Camera Trapping
Arctic shorebirds
Horseshoe crabs

Peter N Laver

Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Tech, and CARACAL




Dissertation: The foraging ecology of banded mongoose (Mungos mungo): Epidemiological and human-wildlife conflict implications.

Major advisor: Dr Kathy Alexander.

Research problem:

Since 2000, banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) along the Chobe River in northern Botswana have experienced almost yearly outbreaks of a disease previously thought to be human tuberculosis (TB) (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) but recently found to be a newly identified pathogen within the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, Mycobacterium mungos. The outbreaks have had mortality rates of up to 25% in certain troops within the population. Due to the nature of the human-wildlife interface in which this population is found, the high burden of immune-compromised humans in the region (HIV prevalence of up to 40% for certain demographic groups), and the high degree of relatedness between the new pathogen and other Mycobacterium species that infect humans, these outbreaks could pose serious challenges to human and wildlife health in the region. At this stage very little is known about the pathogen and the transmission dynamics and we are investigating the possibility that this is a zoonotic disease with possible transmission between mongooses and humans in either or possibly both directions.

Study objectives:

1. To predict and validate a model for the potential route of infection and mode of transmission of Mycobacterium mungos in banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) along the Chobe River in Botswana.

2. To characterize spatio-temporal factors associated with the human-wildlife interface that may affect the foraging behavior of Mungos mungo.

Methods

I am employing radio tracking, behavioural observations, clinical observations, mongoose necropsies, Giving Up Density (GUD) assays, remote camera trapping, and non-invasive (fecal) hormone monitoring. These methods are focused on a core study group of 8 mongoose troops (of approximately 250 individuals in total). These 8 troops are located in a variety of habitats and land use zones including Chobe National Park (with and without association with a tourist lodge), the towns of Kasane and Kazungula (urban and residential areas - with or without association with a tourist lodge) and forest reserve. I am performing some of these methods opportunistically on a further 23 troops identified in the overall study area which includes the Chobe Riverfront of the Chobe National Park (Approx 60km of accessible roads).

Anticipated Outcomes

I expect to produce descriptive epidemiological and pathological data for the outbreaks which I will then use to test putative models for the route of infection and mode of transmission for Mycobacterium mungos in banded mongoose (Mungos mungo). Since preliminary data suggest the nasal plane as the portal of entry for the pathogen, I expect to use the data concerning the foraging and denning ecology of the mongooses to predict possible locations for pathogen transmission and hence possible environmental sources of the pathogen. As intermediate products of this analysis I expect to develop a GUD assay for mongoose foraging behaviour and a stress hormone assay for assessing glucocorticoid levels in mongoose feces.