A new adenovirus isolated from a western lowland gorilla held in captivity.

Abstract We examined the use of a paired stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) to identify preferred items of two adult male western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Subsequently, we validated the most preferred items as reinforcers by assessing the gorillas’ participation in cooperative care-related daily training (also known as husbandry training) where these items were used. Frequency data were collected for the number of times each item was selected during preference assessments and the number of correct short-latency responses from the gorillas during the validation. Results indicate that items identified as preferred in the PSPA functioned as reinforcers for previously learned behaviors during training sessions. We describe the use of the PSPA as an efficient means of identifying potential reinforcers for husbandry training in the zoological setting and demonstrate an embedded methodology to validate the value of items selected frequently in a PSPA.

In primates, mothers are crucial for the survival and integration of young offspring into their social group. Usually, mothers adjust their behaviour to the offspring’s age and needs, but maternal experience might modulate developmental changes in such allocation. In this study, we conducted behavioural observations on 7 mother-offspring dyads of captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) to assess whether multiparous mothers adjusted to the changing requirements of their offspring differently from primiparous mothers, and better facilitated their social integration into the group. Our results showed that, compared to primiparous mothers, multiparous mothers were more likely in body contact with younger offspring and less with older offspring. However, maternal experience neither predicted nor mediated how likely mothers were to start or end body contact, nor did it mediate developmental changes in the offspring’s social behaviour toward other group members. Our study provides preliminary evidence of some limited differences in how primiparous and multiparous mothers allocate maternal behaviour in western lowland gorillas.

This case describes successful expectant management of pre-term pre-labor rupture of fetal membranes (PPROM) in a 20-year-old female western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Rupture of fetal membranes occurred at estimated day 231 of gestation, prior to the birthing window (days 237-285) for this species. Expectant management consisted of broad-spectrum antibiotics, corticosteroids, and monitoring of the dam and fetus via serial ultrasonography, vital signs, and behavioral observation. The pregnancy was supported to term and completed with unassisted parturition of a healthy neonate at estimated day 250 of gestation. PPROM is a common complication reported in human pregnancy but has not been reported previously in gorillas in managed care. Expectant management was successful in this case and underscores the importance of operant conditioning which allowed for maternal and fetal monitoring. This case may serve as a reference for future management of similar conditions, benefiting breeding goals for this species.

BackgroundTraditional ecological knowledge (TEK) held by Indigenous communities is increasingly recognised as a cost effective, locally adapted complement to instrument-based wildlife monitoring. In southern Gabon, hunter trackers routinely distinguish chimpanzee Pan troglodytes troglodytes and western lowland gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla faeces in the field, yet the reliability of these identifications has never been rigorously tested.MethodsTwenty-two experienced Indigenous participants guided systematic surveys across ~ 10 000 ha of unprotected forest near Makatamangoy and Tébé. For every faecal sample encountered, collaborators reached a consensual species identification using their customary criteria (colour, odour, texture, composition, quantity, associated footprints, vegetation disturbance). Samples (n = 637) were preserved in RNAlater® and later assigned to species by 12S rRNA mitochondrial sequencing. Agreement between Indigenous and molecular identifications was summarised in a confusion matrix; accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and Cohen’s κ were calculated. The prevalence of each empirical criterion was expressed as the proportion of interviewees citing it, and species differences were tested with Fisher’s exact tests (α = 0.05).ResultsIndigenous knowledge correctly identified 633 of 637 samples (overall accuracy = 99.37%; κ = 0.987, p < 0.001). Sensitivity was 99.1% for chimpanzee and 99.0% for gorilla, while specificity exceeded 99.6% for both species. Seven primary criteria underpinned identifications; colour (100%) and odour (86.4%) were most frequently evoked. Twelve of 24 sub-criteria differed significantly between species. Chimpanzee faeces were more often described as brown-yellow, soft and abundant with faint heelprints, whereas gorilla faeces were typically black, fibrous, hard and accompanied by pronounced heel and fist prints plus flattened vegetation.ConclusionIndigenous trackers in Gabon demonstrate near-perfect accuracy in differentiating great ape faeces, validating TEK as a robust, low-cost tool for primate monitoring. Integrating this expertise into participatory conservation programmes could expand surveillance outside protected areas, enhance early detection of demographic or health changes, and strengthen community stewardship of threatened ape populations.

Western lowland gorillas are the largest and most sexually dimorphic ape that habitually exploits arboreal environments. Their size, robust musculature and specialised adaptations in the hands and feet, which are suited for terrestrial quadrupedal locomotion, make them interesting models for understanding how great apes are able to exploit complex arboreal habitats. We present a comprehensive analysis of the arboreal locomotor ecology of western lowland gorillas by studying their behaviour and ecology in the context of their morphology. A group of fully habituated wild western lowland gorillas was followed for 12 months in Loango National Park, Gabon. Statistical analysis applying regression modelling and Akaike's Information Criterion was used to identify the relationships between locomotor behaviours, height, contextual behaviour, support use, hand posture and body size. Our findings suggest that the gorillas were not restricted in their ability to access and move around in tree canopies because of their size or postcranial morphology. Instead, they exhibited considerable behavioural flexibility and engaged in locomotor behaviours that contradicted classic body size predictions for primates. To offset the risks of moving on small supports, the gorillas used hand-assisted bipedal locomotion on multiple small supports, rather than relying on suspensory locomotion. We suggest that this is linked to their hand dimensions, which have been selected to facilitate efficient quadrupedal walking on the ground. The silverback gorilla engaged in less horizontal locomotion in the canopy, spent less time at heights above 20 m, and used large supports more often than the adult females, blackback and adolescents, but the type and number of supports used did not vary between body size groups. We also found that the reproductive status of the females (presence or absence of small infants) may have shaped how they responded to risks when solving the problem of gap-crossing in the trees. Overall, our results highlight that the gorillas likely prioritised risk minimisation in the supports that they used in arboreal environments at the cost of increased energy expenditure.

Play Face (PF) and Full Play Face (FPF) in the great apes-homologous to human smile and laugh-face-have been considered a single phenomenon. However, if natural selection has preserved two expressions, probably their adaptive value differs. We collected video data on play interactions in two lowland gorilla groups (N = 21; Gorilla gorilla gorilla) housed at La Vallée des Singes and the ZooParc de Beauval (France). Lacking a tool tailored for gorillas during this study, we analyzed facial action-unit activation via chimpFACS and OpenFace. We found that PF and FPF activated partly different action units as it occurs for chimpanzees and humans' PF/FPF. We detected the rapid replication (Rapid Facial Mimicry [RFM]) of either PF or FPF that was associated with longer play sessions. Not-mimicked PF was linked to increased play session variability (different types of play patterns) measured via the Shannon Index, whereas not-mimicked FPF was associated with increased play asymmetry (imbalance between offensive/defensive patterns) measured via the Play Asymmetry Index. Lowland gorillas may use PF to manage sessions that are more complex in terms of pattern types and FPF-a more salient signal-to prevent misunderstandings when the session is imbalanced. RFM of both expressions may favor the prolongation of play sessions by increasing player synchronization and possibly emotional sharing. Our study opens the door to further comparative studies on playful expressions in humans and other primates as a way to fine-tune possible emotional communication and delineate potential evolutionary roots of Hominidae facial communication.

Industrial expansion has brought humans and wildlife into closer contact, and added novel, complex dimensions to human-wildlife relationships. The seven great apes (chimpanzee, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, Tapanuli orangutan, Eastern gorilla, Western gorilla, bonobo), the closest extant relatives to humans, have experienced substantial population declines resulting from anthropogenic activities. The effect of human activity on great ape behavioural ecology is therefore an emerging field of inquiry in primatology which has historically been minimally considered. This review explores how wild great apes respond behaviourally to human activities and environmental changes, synthesizing current knowledge and addressing potential outcomes and risks. Using precise search criteria, we found 96 studies documenting changes in great ape behaviour in response to human activity, and despite their broad geographic distribution, we found common patterns and responses across species to increasing human influence. Literature documented shifts in existing behaviour (57), the generation of novel behaviours (53) or reported both (15). Forty-three studies (45%) included direct (23) or indirect (20) assessment of the consequences of these behaviours. Only one study modelled a widespread loss of existing behaviours. The majority of studies included chimpanzees (67), followed by orangutans (19) and gorillas (19), and only 2 included bonobos. We found that the most frequently documented drivers of behavioural responses to anthropogenic activity were wide-scale land-use conversions in ape habitats. In response, apes have adopted crop foraging, and altered nesting behaviour, range use, and social strategies. While these responses appear to allow survival in the immediate sense, they may expose individuals to more risks in the long term. Analysis revealed that under many contexts changing great ape behaviour is putting strain on the human-ape relationship, resulting in injury, harassment, and even the killing of apes. We found examples of tolerant relationships between humans and apes shifting towards conflict, potentially worsening the conservation crisis and inviting inquiry into tolerance thresholds among human communities. We emphasize the importance of community-engaged strategies for reducing competition over resources and conclude that great ape behavioural responses to human activity must be interpreted through a locally specific lens.

Traditional qualitative behavioral assessments (QBAs) employ a unique whole-animal approach to measure animal welfare with a focus on affective elements. QBAs require comprehensive validation including reliability across multiple raters, subjects, and institutions, as well as consistency with other validated assessment measures. In 2016, the Detroit Zoological Society developed and began internally validating the Gorilla Behavioral Assessment Tool (GBAT), followed by internal applications of a revised GBAT in 2021. This study continues these validation efforts through the multi-institutional application of the GBAT in baseline conditions. Five zoological institutions participated in this study, creating a study population of 15 adult male western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and more than 40 staff. Care staff collected fecal samples from each gorilla, and two staff from each institution completed the GBAT for each gorilla daily. Three of the five institutions collected focal behavioral data. We calculated inter-rater reliability using Gwet's AC2, establishing near-perfect reliability across all tested items. We found no significant variation in reliability between institutions. We used the behavioral data and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites for construct validation. A combination of Spearman's correlations and generalized linear mixed models demonstrated statistically significant relationships between seven of the 12 tested GBAT items and other established measures. Integration of physical and behavioral indicators of welfare alongside affective indicators alters the GBAT from a traditional QBA into what we propose as a mixed or M-QBA. Our work demonstrates how an M-QBA allows for a more comprehensive assessment of animal welfare with implications for broader research applications.

Noninvasive evaluations of hormones can contribute to the assessment of health and welfare of animals. Variations in insulin levels and sensitivity, for example, have been linked to health concerns in non-human and human primates including insulin resistance, diabetes, and heart disease, the leading cause of death in zoo-housed gorillas. Few published studies have assessed insulin concentrations in western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), and all did so using serum. Anesthesia is typically required to collect blood samples from zoo-housed gorillas, limiting sampling frequency and restricting samples to the fasted state. The ability to measure insulin levels in saliva would eliminate these constraints and provide a minimally invasive means for monitoring this hormone. The purpose of this study was to analytically and biologically validate the measurement of insulin in saliva of western lowland gorillas using a commercially available enzyme immunoassay. For validation, an oral sugar test was conducted on five adult gorillas residing at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Such assessments are common practice in both human and equine medicine to evaluate the body's insulin response to ingestion of sugars. The test involved measuring salivary insulin at timed intervals before and after gorillas consumed doses of sugar. Salivary insulin levels increased from 15 min post-sugar ingestion and peaked after 90 to 120 min. One female had a high response and peaked at 990.21 mU/L. The other four gorillas had peaks between 49.82 and 167.04 mU/L. The assessment provided a biological validation for the measurement of salivary insulin in western lowland gorillas.

The nature of western lowland gorilla social relationships within and between groups is largely understudied, partly due to the challenges of monitoring associations between individuals who live in neighboring groups. In this study, we examined the social relationships of four western lowland gorilla groups in the Ndoki landscape of northern Republic of Congo. To do so, we compiled all-occurrence social interaction and silverback nearest neighbor social networks from data collected during daily group follows conducted over several years. We observed a total of 5,923 dyadic all-occurrence social interactions (1,350 ± 489 per group, 138 intergroup interactions) and 54,989 dyadic silverback nearest neighbor associations (13,747 ± 3,963 observations per group, 105 nearest neighbor observations of intergroup partners during group scans). For all groups, we found that males were more social than females, younger individuals were more social than older gorillas, and slightly greater rates of social behaviors were observed during periods of higher fruit availability. While there was a considerable amount of interindividual variation in social behavior, the network of social interactions demonstrated a large extent of social relationships within and between groups. Additionally, we performed simulated network removals to assess the impact on social dynamics. Across all groups and the total population, the removal of blackback and immature individuals markedly decreased the number of intra- and intergroup relationships (>60% decrease). The documented extent of western lowland gorilla social relationships has direct implications for the conservation of species with multi-level social dynamics. Gaining clarity on the ways in which western lowland gorilla groups naturally occur in the wild, not only provides a greater understanding for their conservation, but also offers insights for managing their social dynamics within captive environments.

Regurgitation and reingestion (R/R) and coprophagy are common behaviors exhibited by primates living in human care. To reduce this undesirable behavior in two troops of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), the diet was modified by increasing fiber (by increasing browse) and decreasing starch (by reducing but not eliminating biscuits). We monitored behavior before, 3 weeks after, and 1 year after the diet change. One year after the diet change, the family group's diet was modified by adding more fruit to facilitate training. We documented significantly increased feeding activity for both troops, with time spent feeding doubling for one troop. Some individuals initially increased R/R or coprophagy behaviors but these increases were not significant, and 1 year after the diet change R/R was significantly reduced in the silverback male who had been known to exhibit R/R up to multiple times per day. In the family troop, coprophagy later decreased when animals were reunited and spent more time outdoors (for reasons unrelated to the diet change study), but this was not significant. This is the first published study to assess the behavioral effects of a high-fiber, low-starch diet on gorillas one full year after the diet change was made, and we demonstrated that the diet continued to positively impact some individuals' behavior. We discuss implications of our findings and suggest future directions for institutions that seek to reduce these behaviors in primates without necessarily completely eliminating biscuits from their diets.

Visitor impacts on social dynamics and space use in captive Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in a naturalistic zoo exhibit: A new methodological approach

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has not only affected humans but also raised concerns about its transmission to wild animals, potentially creating natural reservoirs. Understanding these dynamics is critical for preventing future pandemics and developing control strategies. This study aims to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wild mammals at the Belo Horizonte Zoo in Brazil, analyzing the virus's evolution and zoonotic potential. The study was conducted at the Belo Horizonte Zoo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, covering a diverse population of mammals. Oropharyngeal, rectal, and nasal swabs were collected from 47 captive animals between November 2021 and March 2023. SARS-CoV-2 presence was determined using RT-PCR, and positive samples were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis. Consensus genomes were classified using Pangolin and NextClade tools, and a maximum likelihood phylogeny was inferred using IQ-Tree. Of the 47 animals tested, nine (19.1%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2. Positive samples included rectal, oropharyngeal, and nasal swabs, with the highest positivity in rectal samples. Three genomes were successfully sequenced, revealing two variants: VOC Alpha in a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) and a fallow deer (Dama dama), and VOC Omicron in a western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Phylogenetic analysis indicated potential human-to-animal transmission, with animal genomes clustering close to human samples from the same region. This study highlights the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in various wild mammal species at the Belo Horizonte Zoo, emphasizing the virus's zoonotic potential and the complexity of interspecies transmission. The detection of different variants suggests ongoing viral evolution and adaptation in new hosts. Continuous monitoring and genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife are essential for understanding its transmission dynamics and preventing future zoonotic outbreaks. These findings underscore the need for integrated public health strategies that include wildlife monitoring to mitigate the risks posed by emerging infectious diseases.

Affiliative relationships are a hallmark of social relationships in gregarious mammals, but what drives variation of association patterns when kin are absent remains unknown. Gorillas, where females may disperse multiple times in their lives, provide an interesting counterpoint to female philopatric species to examine the factors influencing variation in association patterns. We examined demographic and social factors that may predict association patterns of female western (Gorilla gorilla gorilla; Loango, Gabon) and mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei; Bwindi, Uganda). We looked at dyadic and individual strength scores of social proximity (37 group-years). For individuals, high dominance rank increased association scores while newly emigrated females had lower scores than resident females. For dyads, higher mean dominance rank and both partners having a dependent infant increased association scores, whereas a partner being an immigrant decreased scores. Furthermore, time-matched analysis of birth and immigration events confirmed the temporal nature of these associations. Overall, female gorilla association patterns show flexibility in strength based on real-time contingencies, namely social and demographic traits. Association patterns in species with female secondary dispersal may be governed by homophily, like that of modern humans. Understanding female gorilla social structure can enhance our knowledge of the evolutionary origins of sociality.

Recent findings on chimpanzee infants’ gestural development show that they use some gesture types flexibly and adjust them depending on their interaction partner and social context, suggesting that gestural communication is partly learnt and partly genetically determined. However, how gesture types are shaped by social and demographic factors remains unclear. We addressed this question by focusing on gesture type morphology and conducted a fined-grained analysis of gestural form during intraspecific social-play interactions in two captive groups of Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We focused on the most frequent gesture types (beat chest, slap body, slap ground and touch body) produced by subadults (infants, juveniles and adolescents). We considered twelve morphological gesture characteristics (e.g., horizontal and vertical hand trajectories, fingers flexion and spread). Our multifactorial investigation shows that morphological characteristics of distinct gesture types can be shaped by social factors, namely signaller’s sociodemographic characteristics (group and kinship), signaller’s behavioural characteristics (body posture) and context-related characteristics (recipient’s sex, attentional state and position in the signaller’s visual field). We nurtured the lively debate concerning gesture origins by revealing the existence of “accents” in non-verbal communication and the highly variable adjustment of gestural form to different conspecifics and interactional characteristics, which supports the revised social negotiation hypothesis.

The ability to coordinate actions is of vital importance for group-living animals, particularly in relation to travel. Groups can only remain cohesive if members possess a cooperative mechanism to overcome differences in individual priorities and social power when coordinating departures. To better understand how hominids achieve spatio-temporally coordinated group movements, we investigated vocally initiated group departures in three habituated groups of western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) in the Central African Republic. The large sexual dimorphism of gorillas has led to the untested assumption that the silverback males are the sole decision-makers in gorilla groups, although there are also observations that suggest otherwise. To address this, we analysed the direction and timing of group departures and found that high-ranking individuals (silverbacks and high-ranking females) were more successful in indicating the direction of future travel than others, but that the timing of departure was the apparent result of a cumulative vocal voting process among all adult group members. Our findings illustrate that even in species with a large sexual size dimorphism, travel decisions can be taken collectively via a consensus-building process.

While there is growing recognition of the importance of traditional knowledge in science, these perspectives remain underrepresented in research publications. However, the synthesis of these approaches has tremendous potential to improve our understanding of wildlife and ecosystems. Toward realizing this aim, we combined local traditional knowledge with molecular classification techniques to investigate "soil scratching" behavior in western lowland gorillas in two localities in Republic of Congo, the Goualougo Triangle and the Djéké Triangle. Daily observations of four gorilla groups for nearly a decade revealed that soil scratching is a foraging strategy to access a deer truffle species, identified here as Elaphomyces labyrinthinus. We also conducted group scans to calculate the time gorillas spent foraging for deer truffles and video focal observations to assess foraging efficiency. There was considerable variation in soil scratching across groups. It was most common in Buka's group, followed by Kingo's group and Mététélé's group. Truffle foraging was rarely observed in the Loya-Makassa group. While the overall distribution of deer truffles seemingly determines the occurrence of this behavior across populations, we found indications of social influences on soil scratching within populations. For example, an adult female transferred from a group in which the behavior was rare to another group where it is common and adjusted her frequencies of soil scratching to that of her new group. Finally, these findings were included in an ecological impact assessment of the Djéké Triangle that prompted conservation managers to shift the location of tourism-associated construction to safeguard this putative cultural behavior.

Zoopharmacognosy is the study of the self-medication behaviors of non-human animals that use plant, animal or soil items as remedies. Recent studies have shown that some of the plants employed by animals may also be used for the same therapeutic purposes in humans. The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Ceiba pentandra, Myrianthus arboreus, Ficus subspecies (ssp.) and Milicia excelsa bark crude extracts (BCE), plants consumed by western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park (MDNP) and used in traditional medicine, and then to characterize their phytochemical compounds. DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl), phosphomolybdenum complex and β-carotene bleaching methods were used to assess antioxidant activity. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the diffusion method, while minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were assessed using the microdilution method. The highest level of total phenolics was found in Myrianthus arboreus aqueous extract [385.83 ± 3.99 mg [gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g]. Total flavonoid (134.46 ± 3.39) mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/100 g of extract] were highest in Milicia excelsa, tannin [(272.44 ± 3.39) mg tannic acid equivalent (TAE)/100 g of extract] in Myrianthus arboreus and proanthocyanidin [(404.33 ± 3.39) mg apple procyanidins equivalent (APE)/100 g of extract] in Ceiba pentandra. Ficus ssp. (IC50 1.34 ±3.36 μg/mL; AAI 18.57 ± 0.203) ethanolic BCE and Milicia excelsa (IC50 2.07 ± 3.37 μg/mL; AAI 12.03 ± 0.711) showed the strongest antioxidant activity. Myrianthus arboreus ethanolic BCE (73.25 ± 5.29) and Milicia excelsa aqueous BCE (38.67 ± 0.27) showed the strongest percentage of total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Ceiba pentandra ethanolic BCE (152.06 ± 19.11 mg AAE/g) and Ficus ssp aqueous BCE (124.33 ± 39.05 mg AAE/g) showed strongest relative antioxidant activity (RAA). The plant BCE showed antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant (MDR) E. coli (DECs) isolates, with MICs varying from 1.56 to 50 mg/mL and inhibition diameters ranging from 7.34 ± 0.57 to 13.67 ± 0.57mm. Several families of compounds were found, including total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins and proanthocyanidins were found in the plant BCEs. The plant BCEs showed antioxidant activities with free radical scavenging and antimicrobial activities against 10 MDR E. coli (DECs) isolates, and could be a promising novel source for new drug discovery.

Zoopharmacognosy is the study of the self-medication behaviors of non-human animals that use plant, animal or soil items as remedies. Recent studies have shown that some of the plants employed by animals may also be used for the same therapeutic purposes in humans. The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Ceiba pentandra, Myrianthus arboreus, Ficus subspecies (ssp.) and Milicia excelsa bark crude extracts (BCE), plants consumed by western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park (MDNP) and used in traditional medicine, and then to characterize their phytochemical compounds. DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl), phosphomolybdenum complex and β-carotene bleaching methods were used to assess antioxidant activity. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the diffusion method, while minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were assessed using the microdilution method. The highest level of total phenolics was found in Myrianthus arboreus aqueous extract [385.83 ± 3.99 mg [gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g]. Total flavonoid (134.46 ± 3.39) mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/100 g of extract] were highest in Milicia excelsa, tannin [(272.44 ± 3.39) mg tannic acid equivalent (TAE)/100 g of extract] in Myrianthus arboreus and proanthocyanidin [(404.33 ± 3.39) mg apple procyanidins equivalent (APE)/100 g of extract] in Ceiba pentandra. Ficus ssp. (IC50 1.34 ±3.36 μg/mL; AAI 18.57 ± 0.203) ethanolic BCE and Milicia excelsa (IC50 2.07 ± 3.37 μg/mL; AAI 12.03 ± 0.711) showed the strongest antioxidant activity. Myrianthus arboreus ethanolic BCE (73.25 ± 5.29) and Milicia excelsa aqueous BCE (38.67 ± 0.27) showed the strongest percentage of total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Ceiba pentandra ethanolic BCE (152.06 ± 19.11 mg AAE/g) and Ficus ssp aqueous BCE (124.33 ± 39.05 mg AAE/g) showed strongest relative antioxidant activity (RAA). The plant BCE showed antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant (MDR) E. coli (DECs) isolates, with MICs varying from 1.56 to 50 mg/mL and inhibition diameters ranging from 7.34 ± 0.57 to 13.67 ± 0.57mm. Several families of compounds were found, including total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins and proanthocyanidins were found in the plant BCEs. The plant BCEs showed antioxidant activities with free radical scavenging and antimicrobial activities against 10 MDR E. coli (DECs) isolates, and could be a promising novel source for new drug discovery.