Do not feed the wildlife: associations between garbage use, aggression, and disease in banded mongooses (Mungos Mungo)

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dc.contributor.authorFlint, Bonnie Fairbanksen
dc.contributor.authorHawley, Dana M.en
dc.contributor.authorAlexander, Kathleen A.en
dc.contributor.departmentAnimal and Poultry Sciencesen
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-28T17:31:55Zen
dc.date.available2017-03-28T17:31:55Zen
dc.date.issued2016-07-25en
dc.description.abstractUrbanization and other human modifications of the landscape may indirectly affect disease dynamics by altering host behavior in ways that influence pathogen transmission. Few opportunities arise to investigate behaviorally mediated effects of human habitat modification in natural host–pathogen systems, but we provide a potential example of this phenomenon in banded mongooses (Mungos mungo), a social mammal. Our banded mongoose study population in Botswana is endemically infected with a novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex pathogen, M. mungi, that primarily invades the mongoose host through the nasal planum and breaks in the skin. In this system, several study troops have access to human garbage sites and other modified landscapes for foraging. Banded mongooses in our study site (N = 4 troops, ~130 individuals) had significantly higher within-troop aggression levels when foraging in garbage compared to other foraging habitats. Second, monthly rates of aggression were a significant predictor of monthly number of injuries in troops. Finally, injured individuals had a 75% incidence of clinical tuberculosis (TB) compared to a 0% incidence in visibly uninjured mongooses during the study period. Our data suggest that mongoose troops that forage in garbage may be at greater risk of acquiring TB by incurring injuries that may allow for pathogen invasion. Our study suggests the need to consider the indirect effects of garbage on behavior and wildlife health when developing waste management approaches in human-modified areas.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2343en
dc.identifier.issue16en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/76690en
dc.identifier.volume6en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectHuman-modified landscapesen
dc.subjectprovisioningen
dc.subjectrefuseen
dc.subjectsupplementationen
dc.subjecturban wildlifeen
dc.subjectwaste managementen
dc.subjectwildlife managementen
dc.titleDo not feed the wildlife: associations between garbage use, aggression, and disease in banded mongooses (Mungos Mungo)en
dc.title.serialEcology and Evolutionen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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Destination Area: Global Systems Science (GSS)
Scholarly Works, Biological Sciences
Scholarly Works, School of Animal Sciences