Stone hammering in natural conditions has been extensively investigated in chimpanzees and bearded capuchins. In contrast, knowledge of stone tool use in wild Old World monkeys has been limited to anecdotal reports, despite having known for over 120 years that Macaca fascicularis aurea use stone tools to process shelled foods from intertidal zones on islands in the Andaman Sea. Our report is the first scientific investigation to look at the stone tools used by these macaques. We observed they were skilled tool users and used stone tools daily. They selected tools with differing qualities for differing food items, and appeared to use at least two types of stone tools. Pounding hammers were used to crush shellfish and nuts on anvils and axe hammers were used to pick or chip at oysters attached to boulders or trees. We found significant physical differences between these two tools. Tools at oyster beds were smaller and exhibited scarring patterns focused more often on the points, whereas tools found at anvils were larger and showed more scarring on the broader surfaces. We also observed grip differences between the two tool types. Lastly, macaques struck targets with axe hammers more rapidly and over a wider range of motion than with pounding hammers. Both our behavioral and lithic data support that axe hammers might be used with greater control and precision than pounding hammers. Hand-sized axe hammers were used for controlled chipping to crack attached oysters, and larger pounding hammers were used to crush nuts and unattached shellfish on anvils. In addition to stones, they also used hand-sized auger shells (Turritella attenuata) as picks to axe attached oysters. Pound hammering appears similar to the stone tools used by chimpanzees and capuchins, but axe hammering has not yet been documented in other nonhuman primates in natural conditions.
BackgroundPlasmodium knowlesi is a zoonotic pathogen, transmitted among macaques and to humans by anopheline mosquitoes. Information on P. knowlesi malaria is lacking in most regions so the first step to understand the geographical distribution of disease risk is to define the distributions of the reservoir and vector species.MethodsWe used macaque and mosquito species presence data, background data that captured sampling bias in the presence data, a boosted regression tree model and environmental datasets, including annual data for land classes, to predict the distributions of each vector and host species. We then compared the predicted distribution of each species with cover of each land class.ResultsFine-scale distribution maps were generated for three macaque host species (Macaca fascicularis, M. nemestrina and M. leonina) and two mosquito vector complexes (the Dirus Complex and the Leucosphyrus Complex). The Leucosphyrus Complex was predicted to occur in areas with disturbed, but not intact, forest cover (> 60 % tree cover) whereas the Dirus Complex was predicted to occur in areas with 10–100 % tree cover as well as vegetation mosaics and cropland. Of the macaque species, M. nemestrina was mainly predicted to occur in forested areas whereas M. fascicularis was predicted to occur in vegetation mosaics, cropland, wetland and urban areas in addition to forested areas.ConclusionsThe predicted M. fascicularis distribution encompassed a wide range of habitats where humans are found. This is of most significance in the northern part of its range where members of the Dirus Complex are the main P. knowlesi vectors because these mosquitoes were also predicted to occur in a wider range of habitats. Our results support the hypothesis that conversion of intact forest into disturbed forest (for example plantations or timber concessions), or the creation of vegetation mosaics, will increase the probability that members of the Leucosphyrus Complex occur at these locations, as well as bringing humans into these areas. An explicit analysis of disease risk itself using infection data is required to explore this further. The species distributions generated here can now be included in future analyses of P. knowlesi infection risk.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1527-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
In January and March of 2005, we conducted surveys of long-tailed macaques at Piak Nam Yai Island, Laem Son National Park (9 degrees N 34-35', 98 degrees E 28'), Ranong Province, situated in southern Thailand. Two of the three troops of long-tailed macaques found on the island were observed using axe-shaped stones to crack rock oysters, detached gastropods (Thais tissoti, Petit, 1852), bivalves (Gafrarium divaricatum, Gmelin, 1791), and swimming crabs (Thalamita danae, Stimpson, 1858). They smashed the shells with stones that were held in either the left or right hand, while using the opposite hand to gather the oyster meat. Some monkeys used both hands to handle the stones. According to Matsuzawa's 1996 hierarchical classification of tool usage (levels 0-3), the tool usage by Thai long-tailed macaques could be characterized as either level 1 (cracking rock oysters with stones) or level 2 (cracking drifting mollusks and crabs with stones by placing them on a rock). Our discovery of stone-tool usage by Thai long-tailed macaques provides a new point of reference for discussions regarding the evolution of tool usage and the material culture of primates.
The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected global public health and economy. Despite the substantial efforts, only few vaccines are currently approved and some are in the different stages of clinical trials. As the disease rapidly spreads, an affordable and effective vaccine is urgently needed. In this study, we investigated the immunogenicity of plant-produced receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 in order to use as a subunit vaccine. In this regard, RBD of SARS-CoV-2 was fused with Fc fragment of human IgG1 and transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana by agroinfiltration. The plant-produced RBD-Fc fusion protein was purified from the crude extract by using protein A affinity column chromatography. Two intramuscular administration of plant-produced RBD-Fc protein formulated with alum as an adjuvant have elicited high neutralization titers in immunized mice and cynomolgus monkeys. Further it has induced a mixed Th1/Th2 immune responses and vaccine-specific T-lymphocyte responses which was confirmed by interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) enzyme-linked immunospot assay. Altogether, our results demonstrated that the plant-produced SARS-CoV-2 RBD has the potential to be used as an effective vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the immunogenicity of plant-produced SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein in mice and non-human primates.
Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) feed opportunistically in many habitats. The Burmese subspecies (M. f. aurea) inhabits coastal areas in southwestern Thailand and Myanmar, and some of their populations have adapted lithic customs for processing encased foods in intertidal habitats. We investigated the diet of such macaques in Laemson National Park, Thailand, and identified the variety of foods they processed with stones. We conducted 36 shore surveys to study tool sites following feeding activity, during which we counted the minimum number of individual (MNI) food items found at each site. We identified 47 food species (43 animals and four plants), from 37 genera. We counted 1,991 food items during surveys. Nearly all were mollusks (n = 1,924), with the small remainder primarily consisting of crustaceans and nuts. The two most common foods, rock oysters (Saccostrea cucullata; n = 1,062) and nerite snails (Nerita spp.; n = 538), composed 80.2% of our sample. Four prey species comprised 83.2% of the sample (MNI = 1,656), S. cucullata (n = 1,062), Nerita chamaeleon (n = 419), Thais bitubercularis (n = 95), and Monodonta labio (n = 80). Macaques selected a wide variety of foods. However, they heavily concentrated on those that were abundant, easy to access, and sufficiently sized. The Burmese long-tailed macaque stone-processed diet, which focuses on intertidal marine prey, differs from Sapajus and Pan, who use stones primarily for encased nuts and fruits. In terms of diversity of foods exploited, coastal stone-based predation by macaques resembles the diet of coastal-foraging humans (Homo sapiens sapiens).
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