Preliminary Assessment of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Two Wild Groups of Endangered Moor Macaques (Macaca maura) from Sulawesi

Abstract

Information on parasite biodiversity and abundance can improve our understanding of parasitic infections on endangered wildlife, as parasites can affect host survival and reproduction and may play a crucial role in determining population dynamics. We conducted a noninvasive assessment of gastrointestinal parasites in wild Macaca maura, an Endangered primate endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and examined the influence of season and sex on parasite richness and prevalence. We collected fecal samples (N = 72) from 18 individuals from two groups. We collected data from September 2014 to February 2015 and from June to November 2016, sampling each individual at least twice. We detected two taxa of nematodes (Trichuris sp. and Strongylida fam. gen.) and eight of protozoa (Giardia duodenalis, Chilomastix mesnili, Entamoeba hartmanni, Entamoeba polecki-like, Entamoeba coli, Iodamoeba butschlii, Balantoides coli, and Blastocystis sp.). The gastrointestinal parasite richness (2.5 ± 0.4 SD) was below the mean reported for nonthreatened primates, whereas the mean prevalence of infection across all parasites (56.3%) was above the mean. We did not find any statistically significant difference in parasite richness or prevalence between seasons or the sexes. This preliminary assessment addresses the paucity of studies on parasites of wild primates in Southeast Asia and can contribute to our understanding of the newly emerging human–macaque interface at this site.