Food choices of the mountain gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda: the influence of nutrients, phenolics and availability

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Ganas ◽  
Sylvia Ortmann ◽  
Martha M. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
National Park ◽  
Condensed Tannin ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Mountain Gorilla ◽  
Fruit Availability ◽  
Influence Of Food ◽  
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Abstract:The factors that influence food choice have implications for animal survival, reproduction and population growth. We conducted a 1-y study of food choice by four mountain gorilla groups that consumed herbs and fruit at two locations differing spatially and temporally in food availability in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. We collected data on 45 important foods consumed by the gorillas, the availability of those foods in each gorilla group's home range and their corresponding nutrient and phenolic concentrations. Employing a linear multiple regression, we tested three hypotheses regarding the influence of food availability and the nutritional and phenolic concentrations of food on food choice. Regardless of changes in herb availability, the choice of herbs was positively influenced by their abundance and sugar concentrations and negatively influenced by their fibre, condensed tannin and protein concentrations. Furthermore, regardless of changes in fruit availability, the choice of fruit was positively influenced by its abundance and negatively influenced by its condensed tannin concentrations. During periods of low fruit availability, the gorillas did not increase the consumption of herbs high in fibre and sugar. The choice of herbs low in fibre had less of an influence on food choice at the location with lower fruit availability than the other location. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating both availability and nutrient concentrations into studies of food choice; by doing so we found Bwindi gorillas were able to choose abundant, relatively high-quality foods year round.

A comparison of two mountain gorilla habitats in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

2004 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bosco Nkurunungi ◽  
Jessica Ganas ◽  
Martha M. Robbins ◽  
Craig B. Stanford
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Mountain Gorilla ◽  
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

scholarly journals Community health and human-animal contacts on the edges of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Lara Muylaert ◽  
Ben Davidson ◽  
Alex Ngabirano ◽  
Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka ◽  
Hayley MacGregor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Direct Contact ◽  
National Park ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Mountain Gorilla ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Cross-species transmission of pathogens is intimately linked to human and environmental health. With limited healthcare and challenging living conditions, people living in poverty may be particularly susceptible to endemic and emerging diseases. Similarly, wildlife is impacted by human influences, including pathogen sharing, especially for species in close contact with people and domesticated animals. Here we investigate human and animal contacts and human health in a community living around the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Uganda. We used contact and health survey data to identify opportunities for cross-species pathogen transmission, focusing mostly on people and the endangered mountain gorilla. We conducted a survey with background questions and self-reported diaries to investigate 100 participants' health, such as symptoms and behaviours, and contact patterns, including direct contacts and sightings over a week. Contacts were revealed through networks, including humans, domestic, peri-domestic, and wild animals for 1) network of contacts seen in the week of background questionnaire completion, 2) network of contacts seen during the diary week. Participants frequently felt unwell during the study, reporting from one to 10 disease symptoms at different intensity levels (maximum of seven symptoms in one day), with severe symptoms comprising 6.4% of the diary records and tiredness and headaches the most common symptoms. Besides human-human contacts, direct contacts with livestock and peri-domestic animals were the most common. Wildlife contacts were the rarest, including one direct contact with gorilla with a concerning timeline of reported symptoms. The contact networks were moderately connected and revealing a preference in contacts within the same species or taxon and within their groups. Despite sightings of wildlife being much more common than touching, one participant declared direct contact with a mountain gorilla during the week. Gorillas were seen very close to six animal taxa (including themselves) considering all interaction types, mostly seen closer to other gorillas, but also people and domestic animals. Our findings reveal a local human population with recurrent symptoms of illness in a location with intense exposure to factors that can increase pathogen transmission, such as direct contact with domestic and wild animals and proximity among animal species. Despite significant biases and study limitations, the information generated here can guide future studies, such as models for disease spread and One Health interventions.

scholarly journals Consumers' Perceptions of Healthy Food Availability in Online Food Delivery Applications (OFD Apps) and Its Association With Food Choices Among Public University Students in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Zhen Rong Eu ◽  
Mohd Jamil Sameeha
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Public University ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Healthy Food Availability ◽  
Significant Difference

This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to study consumers' perceptions of healthy food availability in online food delivery applications (OFD apps) among public university students in Malaysia and its association with their food choices. A total of 290 subjects aged 19–29 years old were recruited from 20 public universities in Malaysia via snowball sampling. Data was collected through an online questionnaire which consisted of socio-demographic status, use of OFD apps (most frequently used brand, usage frequency, food choice, and expenditure per transaction), factors affecting food choice in OFD apps, consumers' perceptions of healthy food availability in OFD apps and recommendation for improvements. The most frequently used apps among the subjects was Food Panda (46.6%), however, majority of the subjects in this study (41.4%) rarely used OFD apps. Also, most of the subjects ordered unhealthy food (77.6%) and spent up to RM15–RM19 for each transaction (43.1%). There was no significant difference between the use of OFD apps and gender (p > 0.05). Among the five food choice motives, “price and convenience” motive was the most influencing food choice factor in OFD apps. Majority of the subjects (76.9%) had a negative perception of healthy food availability (variety, price, and quality of healthy food) in OFD apps. No significant association was found between consumers' perceptions of healthy food availability in OFD apps and their food choices made in OFD apps among the subjects in this study (p > 0.05). Also, majority (85.9%) responded they are keen to purchase healthy foods through OFD apps if they are given an option. However, most Malaysian public university students perceived that there were not much variety of healthy food, of good quality and affordable price, available in OFD apps. This finding suggests that the online food environment in Malaysia are perceived as unhealthy. Future studies can explore the online food environment particularly its impact on community health and well-being. Public health professionals and policymakers need to address the online food environment issues as part of the obesogenic food environment in Malaysia especially when OFD is one of the most convenient service in this country.

Counting elusive animals: Comparing field and genetic census of the entire mountain gorilla population of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

2009 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Guschanski ◽  
Linda Vigilant ◽  
Alastair McNeilage ◽  
Maryke Gray ◽  
Edwin Kagoda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Mountain Gorilla ◽  
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

scholarly journals Long-term collapse in fruit availability threatens Central African forest megafauna

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 370 (6521) ◽  
pp. 1219-1222
Author(s):  
Emma R. Bush ◽  
Robin C. Whytock ◽  
Laila Bahaa-el-din ◽  
Stéphanie Bourgeois ◽  
Nils Bunnefeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fruit Availability ◽  
Forest Elephants ◽  
Lope National Park ◽  
Tree Reproduction

Afrotropical forests host much of the world’s remaining megafauna, although these animals are confined to areas where direct human influences are low. We used a rare long-term dataset of tree reproduction and a photographic database of forest elephants to assess food availability and body condition of an emblematic megafauna species at Lopé National Park, Gabon. Our analysis reveals an 81% decline in fruiting over a 32-year period (1986–2018) and an 11% decline in body condition of fruit-dependent forest elephants from 2008 to 2018. Fruit famine in one of the last strongholds for African forest elephants should raise concern about the ability of this species and other fruit-dependent megafauna to persist in the long term, with potential consequences for broader ecosystem and biosphere functioning.

scholarly journals Food Preferences and Food Choice Determinants in a Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2491
Author(s):  
Dominika Głąbska ◽  
Dominika Skolmowska ◽  
Dominika Guzek
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Preference ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Population Based ◽  
School Students ◽  
High Preference ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
Food Choice Motives

Food preferences are within the most important determinants of food choices; however, little is known about their complex associations, and no studies were conducted in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to analyze the association between food preferences and food choice determinants in adolescents aged 15–20 years within the Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study. The PLACE-19 Study included a random quota sampling conducted in the whole of Poland and covered a population-based sample of 2448 secondary school students. The food preferences were assessed using a validated Food Preference Questionnaire (FPQ), and the food choices were assessed using a validated Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). The statistical analysis comprised k-means clustering and linear regression adjusted for sex and age. Four homogenous clusters of respondents were defined based on the food choice motives—“healthy eaters” (health as the most important determinant of food choices), “hedonists” (convenience, sensory appeal, and price as the most important determinants), “indifferent consumers” (low significance for all determinants), and “demanding consumers” (high significance for all determinants). The preferences for all food categories differed when comparing between clusters presenting various food choice determinants (p < 0.001). The “healthy eaters” were characterized by the highest preference for vegetables; the “hedonists” preferred meat/fish, dairy, and snacks; the “demanding consumers” had a high preference for all food categories, while “indifferent consumers” had a low preference for all food categories. All preference scores were positively associated with mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, and price (p < 0.05). The results confirmed the association between food preferences and food choice determinants in adolescents, as well as allowed adolescents to be clustered into segments to define various needs and motives among the identified segments. For public health purposes, it may be crucial to educate “hedonists,” with a high preference for meat/fish, dairy and snacks, accompanied by convenience, sensory appeal, and price as the most important determinants of their food choices.

scholarly journals A neuronal ensemble encoding adaptive choice during sensory conflict in Drosophila

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti F. Sareen ◽  
Li Yan McCurdy ◽  
Michael N. Nitabach
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Sensory Conflict ◽  
Shaped Body ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Specific Subset ◽  
Adaptive Choice

AbstractFeeding decisions are fundamental to survival, and decision making is often disrupted in disease. Here, we show that neural activity in a small population of neurons projecting to the fan-shaped body higher-order central brain region of Drosophila represents food choice during sensory conflict. We found that food deprived flies made tradeoffs between appetitive and aversive values of food. We identified an upstream neuropeptidergic and dopaminergic network that relays internal state and other decision-relevant information to a specific subset of fan-shaped body neurons. These neurons were strongly inhibited by the taste of the rejected food choice, suggesting that they encode behavioral food choice. Our findings reveal that fan-shaped body taste responses to food choices are determined not only by taste quality, but also by previous experience (including choice outcome) and hunger state, which are integrated in the fan-shaped body to encode the decision before relay to downstream motor circuits for behavioral implementation.

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