Cécile Sarabian

Nagoya University | Meidai

Parasites are ubiquitous in nature and can be costly to animal fitness, so hosts have evolved behavioural counter-strategies to mitigate infection risk. We investigated feeding-related infection-Avoidance strategies in Japanese macaques via field-experimentation and observation. We first examined risk sensitivity during foraging tasks involving fae...

Avoiding biological contaminants is a well-known manifestation of the adaptive system of disgust. In theory, animals evolved with such a system to prevent pathogen and parasite infection. Bodily products are human-universal disgust elicitors, but whether they also elicit avoidance behaviour in non-human primates has yet to be tested. Here, we repor...

Threats from parasites and pathogens are ubiquitous, and many use pathways that exploit host trophic interactions for their transmission. As such, host organisms have evolved a behavioural immune system to facilitate contamination-risk assessment and avoidance of potential contaminants in various contexts, including feeding. Detecting pathogen thre...

Intense selection pressure from parasites on free-living animals has resulted in behavioral adaptations that help potential hosts avoid sources of infection. In primates, such “behavioral immunity” is expressed in different contexts and may vary according to the ecology of the host, the nature of the infectious agent, and the individual itself. In...

All free-living animals are subject to intense selection pressure from parasites and pathogens resulting in behavioural adaptations that can help potential hosts to avoid falling prey to parasites. This special issue on the evolution of parasite avoidance behaviour was compiled following a Royal Society meeting in 2017. Here we have assembled contr...

Forest fragmentation is being pointed out as one of the main threats to biodiversity loss, leading to population isolation, flora and fauna community composition alterations, and to increased anthropozoonotic disease risk. We present the results of a National Geographic funded project that focused on an isolated eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes...

Disgust is an adaptive system hypothesized to have evolved to reduce the risk of becoming sick. It is associated with behavioural, cognitive and physiological responses tuned to allow animals to avoid and/or get rid of parasites, pathogens and toxins. Little is known about the mechanisms and outcomes of disease avoidance in wild animals. Furthermor...

Wildlife trade is a multibillion‐dollar industry and concerns not only the exploitation of animals for their body parts but is also largely fueled by the demand for exotic pets. We document, in Japan, a recent phenomenon closely related to the pet trade and rapidly spreading in Asia: the display of exotic animals in a café/bar context. We surveyed...

Parasites constitute a major selective pressure which has shaped animal behaviour through evolutionary time. One adaption to parasites consists of recognizing and avoiding substrates or cues that indicate their presence. Among substrates harbouring infectious agents, faeces are known to elicit avoidance behaviour in numerous animal species. However...

New framework linking the adaptive system of disgust to conservation issues by focusing on eco-tourism and human-wildlife conflict

Threats from parasites are ubiquitous. Infectious agents come in myriad forms and often use transmission pathways that exploit host trophic interactions. Because they can have serious fitness impacts on those they infect, host organisms have evolved a behavioral immune system to facilitate contamination-risk assessment and avoidance of sources of i...

Animals have evolved a wide range of behaviours that act as barriers to decrease the risk of parasite infection. Faecal avoidance may, for example, limit contact with orofaecally transmitted parasites, such as gastrointestinal nematodes. When present in faeces, however, nematode eggs need to mature before reaching their infective stage. If strategi...

Social structure can theoretically regulate disease risk by mediating exposure to pathogens via social proximity and contact. Investigating the role of central individuals within a network may help predict infectious agent transmission as well as implement disease control strategies, but little is known about such dynamics in real primate networks....