Capture of Alouatta guariba clamitans for the surveillance of sylvatic yellow fever and zoonotic malaria: Which is the best strategy in the tropical Atlantic Forest?

• Published in: American journal of primatology Vol. 81; no. 6; pp. e23000 - n/a
• Main Authors: Abreu, Filipe Vieira Santos, dos Santos, Edmilson, Gomes, Marcelo Quintela, Vargas, Waldemir Paixão, Oliveira Passos, Pedro Henrique, Nunes e Silva, Charles, Araújo, Pollyanna Cardoso, Pires, Jeferson Rocha, Romano, Alessandro Pecego Martins, Teixeira, Danilo Simonini, Lourenço‐de‐Oliveira, Ricardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.07.2019
• Subjects: Alouatta - parasitology; Alouatta - physiology; Alouatta - virology; Alouatta guariba clamitans; Anesthesia; anesthetic dart; Anesthetics - administration & dosage; Animals; Applications programs; Brazil - epidemiology; Expeditions; Fever; Forests; Fragments; Fringes; Habitat fragmentation; howler monkey; Immobilization - methods; Immobilization - veterinary; information network; Malaria; Malaria - epidemiology; Monkey Diseases - epidemiology; Monkeys; Monkeys & apes; Plant diversity; Population density; Primates; Residential density; Surveillance; trapping; Traps; Tropical diseases; Tropical forests; Vector-borne diseases; Vegetation; Vegetation type; Yellow fever; Yellow Fever - epidemiology; Zoonoses; Brazil; Atlantic Forest; information network; anesthetic dart; howler monkey; trapping
• ISSN: 0275-2565; 1098-2345
• DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23000

Howler monkey capture is an arduous and expensive task requiring trained and specialized professionals. We compared strategies and methods to most efficiently capture Alouatta guariba clamitans in remnants of the Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro and its bordering states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. We tested whether or not the success of expeditions in the forest with anesthetic darts, nets, and baited traps differed with and without the support of an information network, a contact chain built with key institutions and inhabitants to continuously monitor howler monkey presence. The influence of forest conditions (vegetation type and fragment size) upon darting success was also evaluated. We captured 24 free‐living A. guariba clamitans. No howler monkey was caught with traps, probably due to the predominantly folivore feeding to high local plant diversity providing a great variety of food options. Captures based on an information network were significantly more efficient in terms of numbers of caught monkeys than without it. Captures with darts were considerably more efficient when performed in semideciduous forests and small forest fragments as opposed to ombrophilous forests or large woods. Although we walked great distances within the forest searching for howler monkeys, all but one animal were captured at the forest fringes. Hindrances to search and the darting method in the Atlantic Forest, for example, the steep terrain, high tree canopies, hunt pressure, and low A. guariba clamitans population density, were mitigated with the use of the information network in this monkey capture. Moreover, the information network enhanced the surveillance of zoonotic diseases, which howler monkeys and other nonhuman primates are reservoirs in Brazil, such as malaria and yellow fever. Alouatta guariba clamitans crossing the road through the rope, very close to the baited trap in platform 2. Even after 25 weeks, it never entered or examined the platform or the baits, which increases the need to develop better strategies to capture and examine this species in the Atlantic Forest. Panoramic image was assembled using the software Microsoft Image Composite Editor 2.0 (ICE). HIGHLIGHTS The construction of an information network with key institution and resident contacts optimize the efforts of howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans) capture. The network can be easily maintained through mobile message exchange apps. Focusing howlers searches in small and semideciduous forest fragments are the best strategies to enhance capture efficiency when using anesthetic darts in the Atlantic Forest.