Tuberculosis in Lemurs and a Fossa at National Zoo, Madagascar, 2022.

We diagnosed Mycobacterium tuberculosis in captive lemurs and a fossa in Antananarivo, Madagascar. We noted clinical signs in the animals and found characteristic lesions during necropsy. The source of infection remains unknown. Our results illustrate the potential for reverse zoonotic infections and intraspecies transmission of tuberculosis in captive wildlife.

Variation in gut microbiome structure across the annual hibernation cycle in a wild primate.

The gut microbiome can mediate host metabolism, including facilitating energy-saving strategies like hibernation. The dwarf lemurs of Madagascar (Cheirogaleus spp.) are the only obligate hibernators among primates. They also hibernate in the subtropics, and unlike temperate hibernators, fatten by converting fruit sugars to lipid deposits, torpor at relatively warm temperatures, and forage for a generalized diet after emergence. Despite these ecological differences, we might expect hibernation to shape the gut microbiome in similar ways across mammals. We, therefore, compare gut microbiome profiles, determined by amplicon sequencing of rectal swabs, in wild furry-eared dwarf lemurs (C. crossleyi) during fattening, hibernation, and after emergence. The dwarf lemurs exhibited reduced gut microbial diversity during fattening, intermediate diversity and increased community homogenization during hibernation, and greatest diversity after emergence. The Mycoplasma genus was enriched during fattening, whereas the Aerococcaceae and Actinomycetaceae families, and not Akkermansia, bloomed during hibernation. As expected, the dwarf lemurs showed seasonal reconfigurations of the gut microbiome; however, the patterns of microbial diversity diverged from temperate hibernators, and better resembled the shifts associated with dietary fruits and sugars in primates and model organisms. Our results thus highlight the potential for dwarf lemurs to probe microbiome-mediated metabolism in primates under contrasting conditions.

Initial Reintroduction of the Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) in Anjajavy Reserve, Northwestern Madagascar.

Madagascar's biodiversity is imperiled by habitat loss and degradation. Furthermore, species may be locally extirpated due to targeted hunting or disease. Translocating at-risk individuals to areas devoid of the species may be an effective conservation intervention. The aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, is uniquely susceptible to hunting pressure due to a cultural superstition. In June 2018, we reintroduced two aye-ayes in the Anjajavy Reserve, a dry deciduous forest in northwestern Madagascar. The translocated individuals, an adult female and juvenile offspring, were rescued from a neighboring forest that was subjected to pressure from fires and logging. We safely secured and transported the aye-ayes to Anjajavy and put them in a quarantine enclosure, where they were subjected to biomedical and behavioral monitoring. After release in the adjacent, protected forest, we conducted postrelease monitoring of the adult female using radio-tracking and scan sampling to determine ranging and activity patterns. We conducted behavioral observations from October 2018 to February 2019 and collected sleeping site data from October 2018 to September 2019. The female aye-aye fed on local resources including Canariumsp. seeds. During the study period, the aye-aye used 31 nests, occupied a home range of approximately 85 ha and traveled, on average, at a pace of 320 m/h. Our findings are comparable with published data on wild aye-ayes in other regions of Madagascar and provide support for future reintroductions of adult aye-ayes, and potentially other endemic species to the natural and protected habitats of Anjajavy.